Limited Liability
by backinthebox
Summary: The League of Assassins have their own code, their own brand of justice. And Oliver Queen had spectacularly gotten himself on their bad side. It should be simple enough to deal with, but things never could be simple or easy for the former Heir to the Demon... either of them.
1. Due Diligence

Post-season 3.

I do not own DC, Arrow, or any of its characters. They're being borrowed purely for the purposes of this fanfiction story.

Yes, I know the two tagged characters hardly show up in this first chapter, but they will.

Read. Enjoy.

* * *

Everything starts with a hostile takeover.

John Diggle, Lyla Michaels, Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen stare at the television set announcing the intentions of Merlyn Global to acquire Palmer Technologies' ownership of Queen Consolidated.

"That sounds like something I should know, isn't it?" Felicity asked, mostly to herself, as she pulled out her tablet from her bag and started searching through her email and files for any data related to the news item.

John glanced at Oliver. "Did you know about this?"

Oliver gave him a placid look. "Do I look like I know about this?"

"That's how you look all the time, man, I don't even know if you have more than one facial expression anymore." John noted, before turning his attention back to the TV.

The report didn't say who was spearheading the takeover, or the conditions involved, but what they did reveal was that Thea Queen, via her lawyer who tried to look as if she didn't miss working in the District Attorney's office, was aware of the takeover but didn't know any of the details, since she only inherited her shares and wasn't part of the day-to-day business of running the business, leaving it to Merlyn Global and Queen Consolidated shareholders and boards of directors to figure out.

Felicity, head of the Queen Consolidated arm of Palmer Tech, after being handed the reins by Ray Palmer himself, would have liked to have been informed.

Oliver, whose calls to his sister (and his sister's lawyer) went unanswered, could only stand and watch as the corporate world played out with his father's company as its prey. Inevitably, though, Laurel Lance had to take his call and admit that she had known about the backroom negotiations for a while, but she had left it to the business lawyers in charge of Thea's assets to handle the takeover.

There's a lull in the crime wave of Starling, too, so he had time to watch the proceedings.

In the end, it takes less than a month for the deal to push through, the negotiations handled by professionals, Felicity ensured a measure of compensation for the takeover, and a bare minimum of jobs would be lost: the people behind the takeover made it known that their intent was to stabilize the leadership of Queen Consolidated, not to throw its workers out into the employment market when the economic standing of Starling City was still in recovery after a turbulent past few years.

Most of the layoffs happen in the upper echelon of the board, the people who made money in letting just whomever buy into Queen Consolidated, the people whose management had even allowed such a takeover to be possible.

It's too good to be true, and everyone knows it, even Felicity and her infinite optimism.

"That's not usual, right?" Felicity asked, glancing around the table. "Nobody does a Santa Claus takeover, right?"

"It's weird." John said bluntly, and Lyla nodded her agreement.

"And we're sure there's nothing underhanded in this?" Oliver, ever vigilant, questioned.

"It's all above board," Felicity told him. "Just like Laurel said."

Yeah, but Laurel Lance and Thea Queen weren't exactly their biggest fans at the moment, especially of Oliver's, so their words weren't exactly indubitable.

"Have you heard from Thea?" Lyla asked them.

Felicity shook her head. "I got corporate email ensuring I'll keep a job, being major stockholder and everything, but that's about it."

"Laurel said she's on vacation." Oliver said tightly.

Which makes sense, with the lull in crime, that one half of Starling's _other_ vigilante team could take some time off.

That there was even another vigilante team was a thorn in Oliver's side, because he had refused to train Laurel and later Thea out of a sense of protecting them, but it had only led them to rebel against him and start their own crusade, against his wishes and without his guidance. And it pained him to admit they seemed to be a good unit, given how neither had appeared with more than the usual limp or bruising, and had not contacted him for major help, medical or otherwise.

Then again, for all he knew, they could have outside help.

"Have we heard from Merlyn on all this?" John finally asked, because that was the elephant in the room that they hadn't bothered to raise until now.

"Well, technically he's dead so he can't be orchestrating this on Global's side." Felicity pointed out.

"He could have plants," Lyla suggested. Off the confused looks of her company, she elaborated. "People he placed on the board as proxies."

They turned to Felicity, who shook her head. "The major players have been on the board for years, but not from the beginning. Other than Merlyn Global, not a lot of them have ties to Starling or Malcolm Merlyn. I've checked. Thoroughly. This looks clean."

"Well, as long as you still have a job." John said.

As her head of security, he had a reason to be concerned about Felicity's employment.

And it was the reason why he was present a few days later, when the current head of the board of directors of Merlyn Global was scheduled for a meeting with Felicity, as a sign of good faith between the old and new owners of Queen Consolidated.

Lilian Tate was a formidable presence, even seated on the couch in the executive lounge of the Queen Consolidated building. Her gaze was sharp and calculating, contrasting her delicate features and soft and wavy dark hair. She sat relaxing on the couch, but something about her form reminded Felicity of a cat, ready to pounce and attack at any given moment. She was dressed impeccably in a cream suit that Felicity would bet was tailor-made and never wrinkled (and probably cost more than Dig's annual income), a contrast to Felicity's own off-the-rack clothes.

The older woman eyed Felicity impassively as she approached the couch, the disdain subtle but nonetheless present.

"Hi." Felicity greeted, coming up to her, and stepping back abruptly when Lilian Tate stood up and, in her high-heeled stilettos, came up to a significant height difference. "Oh! Wow, you're tall."

"Felicity Smoak, I presume?"

Oh wow the foreign boarding school accent was hard to place. Switzerland, maybe? It was hard to misplace the European accent, muted as it was, and Felicity suddenly wished she had known Lilian's name for longer than a few minutes so she could have done more research prior to this meeting. As it was, she had been given a name just minutes before she arrived at the lounge.

"Yeah. That's me. I'm…" Wow. She had not yet learned to not babble when she was nervous. "You must be Lilian Tate."

"Yes." Ms. Tate — because she was definitely not going to refer to this woman as _Lilian_ — motioned for Felicity to sit, and Felicity glanced quickly behind her to ensure John was in the room, especially since she noticed that Lilian Tate had three other people in the room with her. All nondescript, generic muscular bodyguard types, all probably capable of killing her by batting an eyelash. Tate regarded Felicity. "I'm glad we finally got to meet, now that this business of the merger is settled."

 _Merger_. Felicity fought not to scoff in incredulity because, really?

"You understand, why it had to be done this way. It's hard to make a clear decisions when there are various other people and factors at play." Tate continued, her tone light, but the way she was studying Felicity belied the lightness of her tone. "I understand you are involved with Mr. Queen?"

Felicity startled, because that was… a little out of left field?

"It's alright. We did due diligence when we started this." Tate assured her. "I bring it up only because I want to reassure him, as we did his sister, that we aren't going to make drastic changes to the business of Queen Consolidated. It's rather well-running, despite the changes and turnovers and upheavals of the past few years. Divining it from Palmer is merely to ensure its stability, as well as to separate it from the technology focus of Raymond Palmer's interests."

"You've talked to Thea?" Felicity asked.

"We had to, considering she is the one most likely to make money out of this merger." Tate pointed out. "She's quite the head for business, that one. I'm relieved she hasn't yet attended business school, or else this could have been much more difficult. Her lawyers were very adamant about her interests."

"Oh. That's… good, I guess." Felicity conceded.

"She did warn me of her brother's… obstinacy." Tate noted. "How he would likely cause trouble, given the, shall we say, circumstances of this acquisition."

"He's kind of kept out of the loop." Felicity admitted.

"Yes. Being driven out of the board of your own company could do that." Tate drawled.

Felicity frowned, confused, at the sneering tone in the other woman's voice. "He cares about the company."

"Considering his own lackadaisical appointment of Isabel Rochev to controlling the company, I would have to say I'm surprised at that assertion." Tate observed.

"You know a lot about QC, don't you." Felicity mused, realizing only now just how the goings-on in the management of Queen Consolidated must have looked to an outsider.

"I make it a point to know everything I need to know," Tate replied coolly. "You would know something about that, wouldn't you, Felicity Smoak, MIT Class of 2009."

Felicity paused, because oh holy hell Lilian Tate knew more than just the goings-on of Queen Consolidated and Palmer Technologies.

If she was aware of Felicity's defense mechanisms going up, Lilian Tate gave no indication. "Climbing the corporate ladder on her back, if rumors suggest licentiousness." She cut a glance at Felicity. "Your work suggests otherwise, and I strongly recommend curbing such habits before it becomes a reputation."

Felicity balked at the veiled accusation. "I'm sorry, what? That's… that's really not—"

"As I said," Tate cut her off, "your work suggests otherwise. What you do in your hours off-work is none of my concern, but it would be a pity if your talent is overshadowed by such a demeaning reputation." She raised her hand in a dismissive wave. "I _am_ concerned, however, that your first order of business upon being handed the reins of this division of Palmer Technologies is to go on an extended vacation with your boyfriend."

"That's not—" Felicity shook her head. "I'm— Who are you?"

"I am your new corporate master, Felicity Smoak. Pay attention." Tate glanced at John. "You too, Mr. Diggle. I am not Isabel Rochev, serving my own interests masquerading as a ruthless corporate mastermind. I am not Raymond Palmer using one division of Queen Consolidated and dismissing the rest of the corporation to pique my own mind. I run a business, and you both are a part of it. I would like to keep you both on board, but I will not tolerate the intrigue and catastrophic machinations of Oliver Queen's involvement. I understand you are both his friends, or acquaintances, but he is a silent, and honestly easily bought-out, shareholder of the company. I would hate to have to remove Oliver Queen from any kind of ownership of Queen Consolidated. Am I clear?"

Crystal.

"She's scary." Felicity told Oliver, taking a healthy drink of her wine, while John nodded his agreement to Lyla. "Like, the kind of scary you only see in movies, and stuff." She turned to Lyla. "Do they feed extra-scary steroids into boarding schools, because she's really scary."

Lyla frowned, and gave John a confused look, as if to ask if she looked like she went to a boarding school.

"You work for an intelligence agency, you would know." John pointed out.

Oliver was focused on another matter, however. "She's talked to Thea?"

"Yeah, I guess that's a thing?" Felicity shrugged. "Like Thea would make tons of money, something. I don't know." She pouted at him. "She _really_ loathes you, though."

"What?" Oliver looked surprised.

"She does." John nodded. "She really does."

"I've never met her." Oliver said defensively.

Which, it turns out, didn't matter.

"Does she have double X chromosomes?" Laurel Lance asked wryly, digging into a container of Chinese takeout, watching Felicity work her computer magic. "Because that's usually all it takes to loathe Ollie."

Felicity wished she could be offended, currently dating the guy, but given the events of the past year she couldn't really refute that. She glanced away from her screen to regard the Black Canary. "Have you met her? Lilian Tate?"

Laurel shook her head. "That's a corporate thing. When I signed on to be Thea's legal representation that was where I drew the line. But Thea seemed to like her enough, when they met."

"How's Thea?"

"Are you asking for you, or for Oliver?" Laurel asked warily.

Felicity frowned. "I care about Thea, too."

Laurel smiled weakly. "For you I can divulge that she's well and eating healthy. She's, quote, having a time, which is some kind of terminology I don't entirely understand if it's positive or negative and I'm almost afraid to ask."

Felicity eyed her. "And for Oliver?"

"For Oliver, and I'm quoting my client here, 'he can stick his entire collection of arrows up his own–'"

"Okay." Felicity cut her off, because that's a visualization she didn't want to imagine. She turned back to her monitors before she paused and turned back to Laurel. "Have you heard from Nyssa?"

Nyssa. A delicate topic, given the reason why she was no longer in Starling City. Felicity had known that Nyssa al Ghul was training Laurel, but had underestimated the bond of friendship that had formed between the two women. At first she had assumed it was merely because they both missed Sara, Laurel's younger sister and the woman Nyssa loved, but Laurel's vehemence against surrendering the woman to the League of Assassins had told a different story.

The League of Assassins, that had married Nyssa off to Oliver, in a high-stakes gambit that ended with Oliver and Felicity driving off into the sunset and Malcolm Merlyn as the new Ra's al Ghul.

"No." Laurel admitted sadly. "I can figure out why, but it sucks that she can't even send an email."

"Well, you know, what's she going to say? 'Back from murdering some murder-y fellow. Enjoyed tea and biscuits. Cheerio.'" Felicity said.

Laurel gave her a blank look. "Nyssa's not English."

"I wouldn't know. Scary international assassins with vague accents don't exactly encourage lengthy conversation." Felicity said defensively. Her monitor beeped, and she pointed at it to Laurel. "Does this look like your suspect?"

Laurel peered over her shoulder. "Yeah, that's him."

"Why are we tracking his internet activity?"

"He's one obsession away from escalating from peeping tom to serial killer, I'd like to have him in jail, or preferably prison, sooner instead of later." Laurel explained. She pointed at a link on Felicity's screen that looked like an encrypted website. "What's that link?

They both recoiled in disgust at the split-second view they had of the screen before Felicity managed to close the window.

"Yes please. Jail please." Felicity made a face, saving the information onto a USB drive and handing it to Laurel. Before Laurel could take it, however, Felicity pulled her hand back. "You know, we could hold off on these secret rendezvous that interrupt your dinner if you and Oliver would just make up and we can be one big happy vigilante family."

"Sure," Laurel reached out and took the drive anyway. "But I'm not the one whose head is competing for space with his arrows up his own—"

Yeah.

For once since this whole thing started, Felicity doesn't need to balance her corporate life with her secret life as computer support for a vigilante team because, well, she tries hard not to, because Lilian Tate has appointed her own people to head Queen Consolidated and they're often in the boardroom, just within view of Felicity's own office, going over whatever it was that business people did.

She never thought she would miss Walter Steele the way she does.

The usual thugs come to Starling City, bringing their own brand of criminality to town and keeping Oliver (and Dig and Laurel and the sometimes-present Thea and even Lyla) busy. Ray left town a while back, and sometimes Felicity wondered how much more efficient they'd be if they still had the man with his ATOM suit, but that would be like wishing Barry Allen was still in Starling, a product of her wishful thinking because, based on what Cisco told her, Central had its own band of crazy.

It's all cut-and-dried, wash-rinse-repeat, with the occasional call for help for, and from, The Flash.

And then a familiar face saves Laurel and Thea's asses from getting it handed to them by a lunatic impervious to pain.

Because, really, just because they were impervious to pain didn't mean they were invulnerable, and one could always trust an assassin to hit someone where it hurts.

Nyssa al Ghul looked good, for someone whose expression turned murderous whenever she heard the name Oliver Queen, but it wasn't her brief presence in Starling City that caused a stir.

No, that acclaim belonged to whomever pinned a poster of a Northern night sky in the middle of the Foundry.

It was a riddle, clearly, but Felicity was the only one who was even remotely interested in constellations, but she couldn't figure it out either.

Laurel and Thea found the poster intriguing, when they came by for a briefing on a series of failed crimes that had its perpetrators tied and suspended from nearby buildings. It was occurring without their knowledge, and Oliver wanted to figure out who was horning in on their vigilantism.

Laurel sat down on the table that usually housed Oliver's arrows, ignoring his scowl at the action. She indicated the poster. "Who's into astronomy?"

"Someone put that up while we weren't looking." Felicity told her.

Laurel raised an eyebrow. "Someone got in here without you knowing? Security feed?"

"Nothing. Looped."

"Someone hacked your security?"

"Please. Rub it in." Felicity drawled.

"Why are we here, anyway?" Thea asked. "I mean, whoever this guy is, he's stopping crime and unlike an idiot who called attention to his vigilantism, actually keeps them alive for the police to handle, with hard evidence no less. Why is this a concern?"

"Because we can't encourage this kind of behavior." Oliver grit out.

"Too late." Thea muttered, without looking at him. She zeroed in on the poster. She tilted her head, and frowned. Felicity, John, Laurel and Oliver watched as she absently made a trace in the air.

"Do you know what that is?" John asked curiously.

Thea glanced at him, and shook her head. "I think..? I don't know my stars very well. Cassiopeia, that's obvious. And Perseus, and… Andromeda?" Thea pointed.

Felicity glanced at the poster. "Well, that… doesn't make things clearer."

Oliver cleared his throat. "Guys, can we focus?"

"Thea's right." Laurel interjected. "Whoever this guy is, he's not messing with our own work, and he's playing by the rules. Besides, the last time an unknown vigilante worked our streets, it turned out to be Sara."

"It's not Sara." Oliver pointed out.

"Obviously." Laurel retorted. "Look, what do you want, Ollie? We all focus our energies on finding this guy and let other criminals get away?"

Oliver groaned in frustration. "That's not—"

"We're really not focusing on figuring out who's sneaking into the house that vigilantism built?" Thea questioned curiously. "Because last time some jerkface went small picture on all of us, Roy faked his death, I actually died, and Nyssa had to marry a douchebag."

Later, after Thea and Laurel left without confirming or denying they would help in pinning down the new vigilante in town, Felicity and John expressed their concern.

"Your sister hates you." John said simply.

"Yeah, is that still part of the Lazarus Pit rage, because I'm a little scared of Thea right now." Felicity agreed.

Oliver didn't know.

But he could only deal with one problem at a time, and the Foundry hadn't been broken into since the poster had gone up (he slept there, so he knew), so the new player in town had to be the focus of his attention.

Until Lyla stopped that plan. She took one look at the poster, and frowned. "That's…"

"We don't know, either." John told her.

"No," Lyla shook her head. She pointed. "That's Perseus."

They all turned to look at her.

"Thea already told us that." Felicity told her.

"But it's wrong." Lyla she walked closer to the poster, and pointed to the center of the poster. "See, here? Beta Persei. That's Algol. But there's two of them."

Nothing.

"It's the Medusa's head." Lyla explained. "The head of the demon. There should only be one head, but this poster has two of them."

"The what?" John asked, the familiar phrase causing everyone else in the room to freeze.

"The… oh." Lyla froze as well, suddenly realizing what she'd said. "Oh." She looked to Oliver. "Algol. Ra's al Ghul. This is a League thing, isn't it?"

"There are two heads of the demon?" Felicity asked, alarmed. "Is that possible?"

"Why would there be two?" John questioned. He looked to his wife, but Lyla only returned his gaze with concern. "Are you sure?"

"You don't think…" Felicity paused, and shuddered. Every possibility she drew upon was not ideal. She turned to Oliver, who was looking at the poster stone-faced. "How can there be two?"

Lyla indicated the poster with a tilt of her head. "It's the most famous star in that constellation. Thea didn't tell you?"

"No." Oliver's jaw was set. "She didn't."


	2. Preponderance of Evidence

Thanks for the kind and positive feedback. Hope this lives up to expectations.

* * *

Thea wasn't around to defend herself or explain why she had chosen not to enlighten her brother and his team of the anomaly in the poster, because she had skipped town almost immediately after their meeting at the Foundry. Laurel had been clued in, and was entirely unapologetic when confronted.

"Sucks to be left in the dark, isn't it?" Laurel asked, twirling her batons in a way that told Oliver pushing the issue would result in getting hit with them. And she had been trained by Nyssa and had Thea, who was relentless, as her regular sparring partner, so he felt he had every right to be wary of her weapons.

"This is dangerous." Oliver told her. He paced the rooftop in which he had found her. "The League of Assassins aren't kidding around, they're not all like Sara. Nyssa's dangerous. They're dangerous."

"Oh, we know." Laurel assured him. "I've asked Nyssa, and she reassured me we won't be involved."

"You can't—"

"Can't what, Ollie? Can't trust her?" Laurel countered. " _I'm_ supposed to take _your_ word on who and what can be trusted?"

"I know you still don't understand why I did what I—"

"No. Stop! Stop explaining." Laurel snapped. "That's where you're wrong, because I get it. I _get it_. Greater good, or your interpretation of that. But you're not the only word on right and wrong, Ollie, and unlike you, I've learned to try and listen to different sides of the story."

"Did she tell you why there are two heads of the demon?" Oliver asked, wary of the topic.

"No." Laurel shook her head.

"Is she one of the heads?" Oliver pressed.

Laurel laughed. "Can you imagine if she were? You'd be in serious trouble then."

"Laurel!"

Laurel shrugged at him. "I'm not the one who's on Nyssa's hit list, Ollie. Frankly, you'd think after all this time you'd realize your bad decisions can always come back and bite you in the ass."

Okay, fine. Maybe he deserved that. But being on the hit list of a group that called themselves the League of Assassins didn't lend itself to warm and fuzzy thoughts, and the fact that they had been able to sneak into the Foundry without a trace was enough of a warning to him that he hadn't been vigilant enough.

Yes, he was aware of the irony.

The question, and one that nagged him and in turn he posed to Diggle, Felicity, and Lyla (and even baby Sara when he had to stay while Felicity would babysit), was who, exactly, were the two heads of the demon? Nyssa apparently hadn't said anything to Laurel, the last time she had been in Starling, and he wasn't about to ask Malcolm Merlyn about it. It didn't make sense.

Well, he supposed there was one way it could make sense, but Nyssa loathed Merlyn more than she hated Oliver; and he was pretty sure their marriage was technically still valid in Nanda Parbat.

Except for one thing.

"You should see this." Lyla said, barging into the Foundry one day, and after getting permission from Felicity, started typing in an remote access code to a satellite feed.

"You still have access to—?" John began, but Lyla gave him a look.

"Don't ask." Lyla warned, finishing typing in commands and stepping back as the feed played on one of their monitors.

On screen was the smoking ruins of Nanda Parbat.

"Oh my…" Felicity gasped, staring at the image, unable to believe her eyes.

"Call Laurel." John told her, even as Felicity made the call.

Oliver turned to her. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Lyla admitted. "But ever since the two demon heads I've been sending out feelers to people I know about the League of Assassins. This morning I received word that one of their rumored locations was gone. These were the coordinates they gave me."

"This is live?" John asked.

Lyla shook her head. "Reports say that it's been like that for weeks, but there are still explosions every now and then."

"Wait," Oliver paused, and turned to look at her. "' _One_ of their rumored locations'?"

"Nyssa Raatko, or al Ghul, didn't become a wanted woman overnight, Oliver." Lyla pointed out. "She's a top-level threat and on the wanted list of every intelligence agency in any country. She and other operatives rumored to be with the League are kept on watch, and some agencies have pinned down at least one safe house or other."

"If that's true how does she get in and out of the country?" Felicity asked. "Just, out of curiosity."

"We don't know." Lyla confessed. "Their fakes are pretty much untraceable. We've only figured out that when they use a passport that won't pass security it's to send out a warning to their target, because no amount of warning helps."

"That's really not comforting." Felicity admitted. Lyla nodded her agreement.

Laurel's reaction to the smoldering ruins of Nanda Parbat was confusion. "Who would blow up the headquarters of the League of Assassins?"

"We've also been thinking about the 'why'," Felicity told her.

Laurel nodded, because that confused her, too. Only an intelligence group would have a reason to blow up Nanda Parbat, and according to Lyla, the only reason why they wouldn't was to so they could keep surveillance over one concentrated target instead of sending out an army of assassins into the unknown and have no idea where they are and who they could be. She considered calling Nyssa, but the Heir to the Demon was inconsistent about returning phone calls.

But for all of Oliver's efforts in finding her, Nyssa found him first.

"Who are the heads of the demon?" Oliver demanded.

"No hello?" Nyssa asked dryly, handing him the arrow he'd shot at her (and she'd caught) before he had recognized her. "What does it matter?"

"Nyssa." Oliver growled.

"You forget your place, Mr. Queen." Nyssa said flatly. "I loathe your very being, but I do not believe that is any way to greet your wife."

"Ex-wife." He corrected.

"I do not recall any recompense for your betrayal."

"I'm not playing games."

"Neither am I." Nyssa returned. "Laurel said you're looking for me."

"Who are the heads of the demon?" Oliver asked again.

"Have you truly not figured it out?" Nyssa questioned, her casual demeanor indicating that she wasn't taking this confrontation seriously. "Is the all-knowing Oliver Queen at a loss on the failure of his powers of observation?"

"Stop playing games."

"I've already said." Nyssa shot back, "I'm not playing."

"Who destroyed Nanda Parbat?"

Nyssa paused, and frowned at him, gazing at him as if he were a scientific wonder. "Are you truly this dense? This… vacuous? Is ineptitude your new heightened ability?"

Oliver was getting tired of being insulted by people not on Team Arrow (Thea's disparaging term for them, unfortunately, had stuck). "Are you saying you destroyed your home?"

"It was hardly my home, not after your asinine actions." Nyssa spat. "To answer your question, yes: it was by my hand it is destroyed."

"Why?"

"Because the Demon's Head wished it so."

"I won't ask again."

"And yet we both know you will." Nyssa pointed out.

Oliver scowled.

Nyssa tilted her chin up, reminding him of the haughtiness of being Heir to the Demon, back when he'd first met her. Her casual and coy demeanor diminished, replaced by a seriousness that should have been sufficient warning. "Your betrayal of the League of Assassins has stripped you of the name of Al Sah-him. Your negligence had led to the murder of Ta'er Al-Asfer, and you assisted her murderer to commit crimes against the League. Your attack of the Heir and the death of the Head have declared yourself an enemy. Consider yourself warned, Mr. Queen."

"You might once have been an ally, Nyssa, but I won't let you destroy my city."

"Your city, Mr. Queen?" Nyssa queried, her tone almost mocking. "The same city you have stopped protecting in lieu of capturing someone who keeps the streets safe for ordinary people? The city constantly targeted by those whom you have declared enemy?" She shook her head at him, as if in a scolding manner. "Starling City was the home of my Sara. I would not betray her memory so. My quarrel is not with Starling City, you may rest your mind with that knowledge." She turned to walk away, apparently confident in the belief that he would not direct an arrow to her back.

"Does Merlyn know what you're doing?" Oliver called after her.

Nyssa paused her stride, and glanced at him over her shoulder. "The Magician is dead. Malcolm Merlyn does not live to harm another soul ever again."

"Does Thea know?"

Nyssa turned back to him. "That reminds me: Thea Queen is under the protection of the League. I strongly recommend against any attempts to find or approach her unless she calls for you."

"What do you want from her?"

"Only to provide her with protection and guidance, Mr. Queen. The way she does not seem to be willing to receive from you."

"Did you kill Malcolm Merlyn?"

"Al Sa-Her is dead. That is all that matters." Nyssa replied.

"If Merlyn is dead, who else is Head of the Demon?" Oliver asked.

"And still you ask." Nyssa noted, before disappearing over the edge of the rooftop.

She was infuriating. He had no idea what Sara Lance had ever seen in her.

"Nyssa is Head of the Demon." He announced to those in the Foundry, to the absolute surprise of no one.

Laurel, who was discussing something with Lyla and Diggle, looked up at his announcement. "Are you honestly surprised?"

"Did you know?" Oliver asked her. Demanded, really. This kind of information was pivotal, so why were people not sharing information if they had it?

"No, but it's kind of obvious, isn't it?" Laurel returned. "Who else would it be?"

"Did she at least tell you who the other Head is?" Felicity asked him.

Oliver kept his gaze on Laurel. "She said Thea was under the protection of the League."

"Well. Nyssa's been chatty." Laurel noted. "I figured that, too."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know that." Laurel answered.

"Laurel."

"Yeah, that growling thing you do isn't going to work." Laurel told him. "I can't tell you what I don't know. Thea just calls me to tell me she'll be leaving, and not to worry. And she knows that the only way I wouldn't worry about her is if she's with someone I trust, and she doesn't come back looking like she came from Spring Break, so I figured she's not with Roy. And you're all here, so…"

"We can try finding her." Felicity suggested to Oliver.

Oliver turned to face her. "Nyssa said she strongly recommended against doing that."

Felicity frowned. "So what are we gonna do?"

Lie in wait, was the only thing he could think of. Just because Thea was under the League's protection didn't mean she wasn't out of harm's way. After all, the League had its own code and sense of justice, and he knew from his experience back when Nyssa was trying to get Sara to return to the League that nothing and nobody was sacred in pursuit of their own brand of justice. And Nyssa had apparently killed Malcolm Merlyn, who was Thea's father, and she had declared Oliver an enemy, which really could mean Thea was the best way to vent her anger on. So even if there were no ransom calls, or cries for help, he couldn't help but worry about his sister.

It didn't help that every attempt Felicity or Lyla made in trying to trace Thea or Nyssa were fruitless.

The streets are safer, especially with their unknown vigilante on the loose, and even organized crime has taken a lower profile in how they conduct their business. The economy and business is booming with the rise of Queen Consolidated as an entity under the leadership of Lilian Tate. Starling City is a city rising from the ashes of the past few years, and people have begun to question, with the presence of a safer, more lawful vigilante going around, if maybe the entity known as The Arrow had harmed the city instead of making it safer.

Lilian Tate appears on not a few debate panels voicing that very question.

"Who is this woman?" Oliver grumbled, because the woman who had reinvigorated the city's economy is treated as a savior and saint, and her word had weight, especially when bringing to light how the hooded vigilante's activities have coincided with a rise in criminality, in contrast to the current situation of how to solve crime beyond legal law enforcement _without_ increasing the mortality rate; her questioning was casting doubt on the vigilante-formerly-known-as-The Hood's effectiveness, and in turn making the city question his very presence.

Felicity smiled sympathetically at him. "A mirakuru-less Isabel Rochev, from what I can tell, without Slade Wilson's strings."

Oliver glanced at the television, which Felicity was watching with equal parts interest and dread, because in one previous interview, Lilian Tate admitted that while she detested Malcolm Merlyn's actions, it was her responsibility as a member of Merlyn Global's board of directors to ensure his actions did not disrupt the lives of the rank and file, those whose lives were dedicated to their work and not at all involved in their CEO's personal life. Felicity made it a point to watch Lilian Tate's interviews because from their one meeting, she could sense Lilian Tate was not above dragging Oliver's name through the mud.

Which she hadn't. Yet.

Felicity worried that it was only a matter of time.

She worried so much that she became superstitious, believing that if she watched Lilian Tate's interviews, the woman wouldn't mention the Queen family; if she didn't, then that would be when the Lilian Tate's attack would happen.

It did not help that Lilian Tate was well-spoken and highly intelligent, clever and sharp during interviews. She used her words effectively, and while still completely professional, she was not entirely aloof when in front of a camera. And there was her sob story: born and raised by her mother, to an absent father whose only regard for her was to ensure she was fed, clothed and sheltered. She was sent to the best schools, and despite his absence in her life, her father demanded perfection from her, expecting only success. It was why, she often said, she valued family and the home, despite her own focus on business and success. If Felicity hadn't come face to face with the viper that lay underneath the charm and empathy, she'd be all over Starling City's latest savior, too.

She should have known that it was probably inevitable for Lilian Tate and Oliver Queen to be in the same room at one point.

It was a fundraiser for the Glades, with people in fancy dress feigning politeness and camaraderie with each other, and Oliver was there because both Thea and Felicity were invited, and he had hoped he could have a second to talk to his younger sister during the event.

It didn't help that the first time he saw his sister, she was conversing with the new chairman of Queen Consolidated.

Thea was nonplussed when he confronted her about her choice in conversation partner. "She's on the board of two companies I own shares in, Ollie. What am I supposed to do, ignore her?"

Fine. But, "Where have you been?"

"Away." Thea said flatly. "I thought Nyssa told you to stay away from me."

"Nyssa is dangerous." Oliver reminded. He honestly had no idea why people kept forgetting that Nyssa had been Heir to the Demon, possibly currently the Demon's Head, of a group that called themselves the _League of Assassins_. That Nyssa's kill count far exceeded his own, and that Nyssa killed _for a living_. Were the women in his life logically impaired?

"Not if she's sworn to protect me."

"And did she?"

"In exchange for my allegiance, yeah."

Oliver balked. "You—"

"I'm not part of the League, if that's what you're trying not to ask with your constant tone of disapproval." Thea retorted. "You started a war, I swore allegiance to Nyssa so that whatever happens between you two, I'm out."

"I didn't start a war." Oliver protested.

Thea gave him a disbelieving look. "You took away her birthright, killed her father, and placed the guy who had her girlfriend killed as her boss. I'm pretty sure she wants you dead."

"I was trying to protect you!"

"Yeah. Good job." Thea said sarcastically. "And before you ask, no. I don't know if she's one of the Demon's Heads. Yes, I figured out the clue and didn't tell you because honestly, you had it coming. No, she hasn't told me who _are_. And yes, swearing my allegiance to her means I'm not going to stop her if she tries to kill you. But I think she likes me, and she thinks family's important, so who knows where you fall in her list of priorities of people to kill."

"You can't be serious."

"But I am. Like a sword to the chest." Thea replied. "So I'm not telling you what it means for me to be under the protection of the League of Assassins. Because, you know, to protect you."

Oliver frowned at her.

"Oh, and in case you're going to bring it up to convince me that she's evil and can't be trusted? She told me she was going to kill Malcolm." Thea told him frankly. "And I gave her my blessing."

The world's gone insane.

And about to get crazier.

"Younger sisters can be so stubborn, aren't they?" Lilian Tate queried, sidling up to Oliver as he watched Thea walk away.

Oliver turned to her and forced a pleasant smile. "We haven't been introduced."

"Oliver Queen. Your sister pointed you out earlier." Lilian informed him.

"And you've been all over the news networks." Oliver countered.

"Lilian Tate." Lilian offered her hand, which Oliver shook.

"Pleasure." Oliver said placidly.

"Quite." Lilian returned. She motioned to the direction which Thea disappeared to. "She seems mighty displeased."

"Younger sisters." Was all Oliver said, hoping that put the matter to rest. He didn't like Lilian Tate's apparent acquaintance with Thea, nor her interest in the younger Queen.

"Indeed." Lilian agreed. She took a sip of her champagne. "One can only hope that in time their cooperation would be recompense for their stubbornness."

Oliver paused, Lilian reminding him of something familiar but he was unable to place exactly, and turned to face her and look her in the eye to gauge her sincerity. "You already have Queen Consolidated. What do you want from Thea?"

Lilian met his gaze evenly, a hint of a sneer on her lips as she answered in a tone that gave no measure of mirth. "Given her name and experience? Only to protect and guide her, of course."

Oliver froze.


	3. Joint and Several Liability

There is a method to the madness, I assure you.

* * *

"Lilian Tate is the other Head of the Demon?" John's incredulity was matched by Felicity's and Lyla's, which was saying something, given that Felicity had gone through every corner of the internet looking for information on her corporate overlord and Lyla had strings all over the intelligence community, and had never heard of Lilian Tate's name in such context.

"What, how, why?" Felicity tried to figure out just what the right question framed her disbelief of Oliver's assertion.

"I don't know!" Oliver exclaimed. "But she said something about Thea that's exactly what Nyssa said."

"Okay, say that you're right." Diggle allowed, reluctantly. "What are we thinking?"

"What, did she marry Nyssa, or…?" Felicity guessed. Because Lilian Tate and Nyssa al Ghul sharing Head of the Demon responsibilities was a whole new level of scary, when she thought about it. They could rule the world with that kind of partnership, leading a group of assassins with multimillion dollars' worth of financial backing and the Research and Development departments of at least two of the nation's most technology-driven companies. And Tate, from what research Felicity had done on her, had a portfolio that included holdings in firms involved in security, medicine, and transportation. Felicity's pretty sure Tate can run her own country if she felt like it.

"Does Thea know?" Lyla asked.

Oliver sighed. "I don't know. But she and Tate were friendly."

"We could ask Laurel." Felicity suggested.

John gave her a wry look. "Because she'll be forthcoming."

"It can't harm to ask." Lyla asserted. "Felicity's right; We can't just sit here speculating."

"And we still have that rogue vigilante running around," John reminded.

Oliver groaned at the reminder, but nodded anyway. "Lyla, Felicity: try to find the link between Lilian Tate and the League of Assassins. Figure out how and why Nyssa would trust her and share leadership with her."

Lyla didn't move. "And then what, Oliver?"

Oliver stopped, and faced her. "What do you mean?"

"Lilian Tate is a popular and well-respected member of society. Even if you're right, and she _is_ the other Head of the Demon, then what? You're gonna put an arrow through her heart?"

"I'm just going to talk to her."

"The way you've talked to Nyssa?" Lyla pressed. "Because at least we have an existing relationship with Nyssa. Lilian Tate doesn't have to talk to you if she doesn't want to."

"She will."

"At the sharp end of an arrow?" Lyla asked sharply. "In case you haven't noticed, Oliver? She's raised a pretty good case against The Arrow. Showing up at her doorstep is not going to help."

Oliver let out a grunt of frustration. "What are we supposed to do, Lyla? Give her free reign? Who's to say she and Nyssa won't use Starling as their new base of operations?"

"Who's to say they haven't already?" Lyla shot back.

"Even more reason to stop her. Them. Whatever their relationship might be."

"Good thought, but how do you expect to do that? From all I've read on her, she's not someone who's just going to back down, and if she really is involved with Nyssa, you're going to have a heck of a fight on your hands."

"She has a point." Diggle pointed out. Oliver gave him a wary look. "Oliver, Tate's smart. She was talking to Thea while you were in the same room for a reason. And you don't just drop bombs like that for the sake of dropping bombs. For all you know, she and Nyssa set this up so you'll take a wrong step on purpose."

"We can't just let them do this." Oliver argued.

"We won't." Felicity assured him, with John and Lyla nodding their agreement. "But first we'll have to figure out what their endgame is."

Oliver looked at her morosely, wanting badly to rebel and do what he wanted anyway, but they all raised good points: they were blind in all this, and by the looks of it, Lilian Tate and Nyssa al Ghul had been setting them up for months already.

It certainly explained Lilian's loathing of Oliver, and why Nyssa had been incredulous at Oliver's apparent lack of observation and deductive reasoning.

And it turned out that Lyla had been right to warn Oliver off, as well as Diggle for pointing out that Lilian Tate did everything for a reason, because after the clue she had given Oliver, more of the chess pieces on the League of Assassins' side started to show.

The rogue vigilante prowling the streets and cleaning up crime in lawful and effective means, for a reason that wouldn't have otherwise made sense in previous months, suddenly shows up at a crime scene that Oliver and Diggle are already working, as well as another one that Laurel and Thea are staking out.

It's not one rogue vigilante, it's a _team_. A team of nondescript individuals who are stealthy and quick, dressed like stereotypical ninjas, and know how to use a variety of weapons.

Lyla was right: the League of Assassins had set up shop in Starling City, and those not yet high enough in the League food chain to be more than just nameless and faceless henchmen are sent off to do vigilante work to exercise their abilities in stealth and skill in carrying out missions. Why they're dressed like cartoon versions of themselves can only be attributed to what Lyla and Diggle conclude: _who would believe that ninjas were real?_

And from what Felicity could tell, the Nyssa al Ghul-Lilian Tate partnership involved several cunning strategies none of them had seen coming, including working relationships with the underground element, and an upgrade in technology because she had no way of tracking down where their hideout could be, their communication systems were untraceable, and there was still no clue anywhere in the world that indicated how a businesswoman could have linked up with the League of Assassins. Lyla had suggested maybe a previous deal had been made, which was possibly how she could have met Nyssa, but there were no suspicious deaths in Lilian Tate's history.

"You're using company resources for your extra-curricular activities, Ms. Smoak." Lilian Tate said as means of greeting, one morning when Felicity came to work to find the other woman in her office.

Felicity startled, and made sure to check behind her and ensure John was with her, because now that she was aware of Lilian Tate's association with the League of Assassins, Felicity had no doubt that those nondescript bodyguards were assassins in suit-tie-sunglasses disguise. "Sorry. Did we have a meeting?"

Lilian waved her hand dismissively. "I was in the neighborhood." She eyed Felicity as the blonde walked up to her desk and set up her workspace. "System security informs me that several of our servers are utilized heavily off-hours, and while that's the kind of occurrence that raises red flags, it seems they're used by a backdoor that starts with an access code."

Felicity hesitated. She didn't want to say anything, because anyone with even passable hacking skills could do that.

"A back door that was built in by the person who designed the system." Lilian elaborated, as if Felicity was slow on the uptake.

"Really? That's weird." Felicity feigned innocence.

Lilian sighed, the only outward sign that she found the conversation trying. "You should not digitally sign your designs if you wish not to be caught, Ms. Smoak."

 _Oh holy shit_ how did this woman know about hacking and digital signatures?

"I am not merely a figurehead or a pretty face, Ms. Smoak." Lilian pointed out, as if reading Felicity's mind. She stood, having accomplished the reason for her impromptu visit, and addressed Felicity with the air of the haughty. "If you do not wish your activities to be traced, I recommend against continuing such actions. I would hate to have to turn away such talent for her less-than-savory endeavors."

With that, Lilian Tate and her assassin bodyguards left the office.

Felicity turned to John, panic written plainly on her face. "How did she know–? Those were untraceable!"

John shook his head urgently at her, raising his hands in a calming gesture.

"Dig! Don't make 'calming down' motions! There is no calm!" Felicity retorted.

John shook his head again, and opened one of the drawers in Felicity's desk, retrieving a device and activating it.

"What–" Felicity looked confused.

"The room could be bugged." John said, finally willing to speak now that they had a scrambler in place. "We don't know how long they've been here, and we really should have thought about it sooner, when Oliver decided she was involved."

Felicity looked torn. "How can Nyssa be letting her do this to us? I mean, I knew Nyssa was scary, but she's not evil."

"She had Laurel poisoned and kidnapped Sara and Laurel's mom to get Sara to come back to the League." John reminded.

"I mean, yeah, that's not chocolates and flowers and dedicating a bunch of heartbreak playlists, but she's not _evil_." Felicity conceded.

"International assassin."

Felicity gave him a look. "Sara wouldn't have been in love with her if she was evil."

John shrugged. "I don't know. From what I can tell, leather and swords and being billowy coat queen of pain with a fancy accent can do that."

Felicity blinked up at him in surprise. "Really? _Nyssa?_ I mean, I get it, I do, but you? Really?"

John gave her a wry look. "I have eyes."

Felicity conceded his point. "You know, I wish Sara were here, none of this would be happening."

"Yeah, because if Sara was alive Thea wouldn't have been on the League of Assassins' hit list and forced Oliver into Ra's and Merlyn's endgame." John pointed out.

Felicity stopped, and frowned at him. "I hate your point."

"Doesn't make it not true." John replied.

They ultimately decide that the best way to fix things is to deal with Nyssa, because Lilian Tate is an expert negotiator, and so acquainted with business double-speak that none of them would be able to keep up. At least Nyssa is practical, and has no time or patience for playing it coy or subtle. And if it came down to it, Oliver could take her in a fight, and since Nyssa was wanted in several different jurisdictions, wouldn't face the legal wrangling that confronting Lilian Tate would.

And the best way to get to Nyssa was to deal with those she was loyal to: Thea Queen, Laurel Lance, and by virtue of being the deceased Sara Lance's father, Quentin Lance.

Quentin still wasn't talking to Laurel, but surveillance showed that Nyssa had someone tailing him. It would have been nefarious, if he weren't Laurel and Sara's father and thus, (most probably) safe from Nyssa's vendetta.

Thea had obviously chosen to merely stand by and watch, was possibly very much on Nyssa's side, and was at the very least aware of some of the machinations of the League of Assassins in Starling City, and preferred to make snippy comments at Oliver than to offer him any real information.

Laurel knew less than Thea about the League of Assassins, and had been surprised by the declaration that Lilian Tate was involved, but it was not enough for her to play along with what Oliver wanted, which, based on his accusations, seemed to be the complete disbandment of the League, and possibly of Nyssa's complete disappearance from Starling City.

"Be reasonable." Oliver seethed. Some days he couldn't believe he and Laurel had been together for so long. On days like these he couldn't believe they had gotten together _at all_.

Laurel gave him a weary look. "Ollie. Nyssa isn't Slade, Ra's, or Merlyn. Her vendetta against you hasn't harmed anybody - I know, that's a surprise to me too, given the thin line with her. She's not going to hurt Thea, or threaten Felicity, or hold Lyla hostage just to get what she wants."

Ouch.

"And Starling's in recovery." Laurel continued. "The streets are safer. In fact, the streets are so much safer, I've had to take up with some people Cisco pointed in my direction just to get my literal kicks in. I don't know about you, but right now I'm all for having the League of Assassins in town."

Oliver paced the rooftop, needing to vent his frustration. And yes, he too was frustrated by not being able to kick any criminal ass, now that the League were doing the vigilante work for him. He had even started to pick fights with the League assassins, but there were always at least two others nearby, and they didn't seem to hesitate in joining a fight and getting their own hits in with The Arrow. "You don't understand."

"Probably, because from what I can tell, a lot of criminal masterminds are afraid to step into a place that houses a group that call themselves the League of Assassins and those that are already here won't step a toe out of line against them." Laurel noted. "Nobody's that stupid."

Oliver opened his mouth to argue, but was cut off by Felicity calling for his attention on his comms. He groaned. "Not now, Felicity."

Laurel twirled her staff, something she had been steadily improving on handling, since Thea was willing to spar with her and was not as willing as Nyssa to send her to the floor within seconds just to demonstrate a point. She listened as Oliver growled at Felicity to send Diggle off to investigate something downtown, which was inconvenient for Diggle, as well as for Laurel, because the location Felicity wanted him to check out was just a few blocks away and Laurel would rather Oliver attending to that than this ridiculous conversation.

Finally, Oliver pressed his hand to his ear, signalling that he was ending transmission. He turned back to Laurel.

"Trouble?"

"Felicity isn't sure."

"We could look into it."

"Laurel."

"We're not going to get anywhere with this conversation, Ollie."

"You need to be more serious about this. What if there's a League civil war? Starling won't be able to handle that." Oliver pointed out.

"From what you told me, she burned down Nanda Parbat. Someone who can do that isn't going to allow anyone to start a civil war."

"What if this thing with her and Lilian Tate goes south?" Oliver pressed. "What then?"

"It won't."

"You don't know that."

"She does."

He honestly can't believe Nyssa was able to sneak up on him like that. Oliver turned, bow drawn and arrow ready, aiming at Nyssa who stood a few feet behind him. "You and your league can't stay here."

"But Starling has been so welcoming." Nyssa said dryly, giving the archer a disdainful look. She glanced over Oliver's shoulder at Laurel. "I am going to incapacitate Mr. Queen, Laurel, you might want to leave for plausible deniability."

"Oh, but I wanted to watch." Laurel joked, but making her way to the fire escape to leave anyway.

"Leave, Laurel." Oliver said firmly.

"Oh, now you're just making me want to stay." Laurel remarked as she passed him and Nyssa.

Nyssa kept her gaze on him, even as she addressed Laurel. "There's a security camera in a nearby building. I'm certain Ms. Smoak would be able to access it for you to enjoy the show."

Laurel seemed to be agreeable to that, beaming happily. "Good call. Be gentle. 'Bye, Ollie."

"I'm here to talk, not fight." Oliver told Nyssa, ignoring Laurel.

Nyssa glanced pointedly at the arrow pointed at her, skeptical. "Evidently."

He didn't lower the bow.

"You have been starting fights with my people, Mr. Queen." Nyssa reminded, shaking her head. "I thought I told you not to do that."

She had to be kidding.

"How is Lilian Tate involved in the League?" Oliver asked.

Nyssa raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "That warrants a question?"

"Your men don't know the answer."

"Because you're not supposed to ask." Nyssa told him in annoyance. She glared at him. "Tell Ms. Smoak to cease her investigation, and Agent Michaels her queries. You do not ask anyone about Lilian Tate and her supposed ties to the League ever again. Do you understand?"

"Who is she?"

"She is irrelevant to this discussion."

"Nyssa."

"Do you understand?" Nyssa repeated, pointedly.

"You got what you wanted. You're Head of the Demon. Leave my city alone." Oliver returned in kind, ignoring her demand.

"My quarrel is not with Starling City, Mr. Queen. You seem to continue to be ignorant of that fact, despite the obvious observations and my own assertions to the same." Nyssa eyed him guardedly. "And _what I wanted_ was to grow old with Sara. Now all I have is the League. And its dispute with you."

"Its vendetta is because of you." Oliver reminded, annoyed. "You don't like me, I get that, but your petty revenge plot is putting Starling at risk, and I haven't done anything!"

Nyssa's gaze turned steel. "Do you even know what it is that the League does? What we stand for? What our oath involves?"

"You kill. You kill those who act against you and against the people who pay you." Oliver recounted.

"Do not be so simple. We replace evil with death, Mr. Queen." Nyssa told him. "Your ignorance is despicable."

"Consider me enlightened." Oliver said sarcastically.

Nyssa ignored him in favor of a rant that had been building up for some time. "You are ignorant, and simple, and still you found yourself fit to meddle in our affairs."

"Your father—"

"My father did not put us in the hands of a murderer." Nyssa snapped. "My father was consumed by prophecy, and his legacy, and the pursuit of power, but he did not betray the very tenets upon which the League of Assassins was formed. He was admittedly misguided in his actions against you and Starling City, but he did not put the League in the hands of someone who sees no harm in the senseless murder of innocents. He did not give power to someone who harms others for the sake of his own goals." She paused, and gave him a contemptuous look. "I suppose that's not entirely true, upon consideration."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to learn and understand the consequences of your actions."

"And you're going to teach me that?"

"I will teach you a lesson. One you won't soon forget."

"I don't want to fight you."

"You won't have the chance."

Oliver huffed. "You seem to forget the outcome of our fights."

"Unlike previous occasions, I find myself not emotionally compromised by the situation." Nyssa tilted her head slightly in what could be an assassin's version of a half-shrug. "And unburdened by the responsibility of sparing your life."

Well, if she wasn't going to talk about it, she didn't have to threaten him. Oliver released the arrow, but Nyssa avoided the attack easily, having correctly read his intent, and sidestepping out of the way.

"Did you really think that would work?" Nyssa mused, eying Oliver defensively, watching out for his next move.

Oliver didn't answer, quickly turning and shooting another arrow in her direction. It still didn't make contact, and before he could retrieve another arrow, Nyssa was right in front of him - had she always been that fast? - locking his extended arm under her own, and one hand grabbing his elbow, her other hand his own, two simultaneous nerve pinches sent pain shooting up his arm, rendering it numb and making him drop his bow. When he tried to use his free hand to land a blow on the assassin, Nyssa grabbed the offending extremity and twisted, the corresponding pain that followed informed him she'd broken his hand. _Son of a bitch_ that hurt.

Nyssa maneuvered to stand behind him, knife on his throat, and he hated that Nyssa wasn't even breathing hard.

He felt the cold hard press of the blade on his neck. "Nyssa."

"Shush. I am deciding if you are worthy of quick and efficient rather than slow and bloody." The blade pressed deeper. "I warned you, Mr. Queen."

Guess she wasn't kidding about that sparing his life part.

Or that the only reason he's been able to get a drop on her so often in the past was because she couldn't kill him (he harbored no delusion it was because she preferred him alive, and more due to the people in his life).

"No! Stop!"

They were both startled at the sound of the familiar voice, and the clanging sound of someone frantically heading up the fire escape.

"Sara! Don't!" Laurel.

Nyssa sighed in obvious annoyance. "Are there no depths to which you are unwilling to sink yourself down to, Mr. Queen? To mock me with Sara's voice?"

"I don't—"

"Regardless." Nyssa sighed again. "Say goodnight, Mr. Queen."


	4. Estoppel by Representation

Thank you for the kind words so far in this fic. I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Just in case it hasn't yet been made abundantly clear, I haven't exactly been a loyal Arrow viewer... in a while, which is why you have some (several?) inconsistencies. You might also notice my canon is a mix of the show circa seasons 1 & 2 (not that fustercluck of a third season) and fanon (mostly fanon). Creative license, yes?

I just really wanted to bring Sara back, the way Legends of Tomorrow promises, without the burden of having to follow canon.

In the meantime, have some exposition.

And this chapter is so, so rough I feel the need to apologize beforehand. I promise to try harder next time.

Enjoy?

* * *

She lied.

Nyssa had barely allowed Oliver's unconscious body to drop to her feet when a familiar head of blond hair rushed up to the roof, shoving her aside to check on Oliver Queen. Nyssa quickly recovered from the forceful push and shot an alarmed look at Laurel, who was immediately behind the woman who was _not supposed to be alive_ , but Laurel appeared to be equally at a loss.

Sara Lance, secure in the knowledge that Oliver was still breathing, stood up and again shoved Nyssa. "What do you think you're doing?"

That sounded like Sara.

Nyssa shot another glance at Laurel, which was unfortunate, since the Sara Lance lookalike also turned to Laurel, and grabbed the staff from her sister. Nyssa stepped back quickly to avoid the attack, and deftly avoided the aggressive advance of the blond woman.

The bo-handling was reminiscent of Sara.

"Sara, stop." Laurel finally found her voice, and she moved closer to stop Sara from trying to hurt Nyssa, not that the assassin needed help in avoiding the attack, but the only way Nyssa knew to stop an attack was… not advisable. "Sara, please."

The plea seemed to work, as Sara held out the bo in one hand, pointing it threateningly at Nyssa, but did not advance further. Sara glared at her sister, even as she allowed Laurel to drag her away from the tall, dark-haired woman. "Are you missing the part where the Arrow is unconscious?"

"I'm sure Nyssa has her reasons." Laurel reasoned. She shot Nyssa a look, as if asking her to _please have a good reason_.

The League owed no one explanations.

However… too much for not being emotionally compromised. Nyssa hesitated, but had to ask: "Sara?"

Sara turned to glare at her. "Yeah. What's it to you?"

Despite the futility of it, Nyssa looked to Laurel, but the other woman had bent to check on Oliver, one hand still holding on to Sara's wrist. To ensure she was real, or to prevent Sara from attacking Nyssa again, the assassin couldn't tell.

Laurel looked up at the dark-haired woman. "That pit viper thingy?"

Nyssa shook her head. _Thingy._ Honestly. "He'll live."

Laurel turned Oliver's head to retrieve his communications earpiece, and, upon seeing the thin line of blood on his neck, glanced up at Nyssa.

Nyssa shrugged. "The knife slipped."

Laurel rolled her eyes, not believing Nyssa for a minute, and activated the communications device. "Hey, Felicity. We're gonna need a van pickup at our last known location." She glanced from Nyssa, who was staring at Sara as if trying to puzzle her out, to Sara, whose earlier aggression towards Nyssa had faded somewhat to confusion. "Yeah, Felicity, I'd tell you, but you're not gonna believe this." She again checked Oliver's neck.

"I wouldn't touch that." Nyssa warned.

Laurel and Sara glanced at her.

"It's... a contact poison." Nyssa admitted. "It's quite potent."

"Nyssa." Laurel groaned, as she ended transmission with Felicity.

"You poisoned-" Sara's grip on the staff tightened.

"He'll be fine." Nyssa waved off the urgency inherent in the word "poison".

Sara turned to Laurel, and finally acknowledged her sister's outfit. "Nice get up, Laurel." She tilted her head towards Nyssa. "Not-so-nice friends." She glanced at Nyssa, and again her expression faltered. She glanced down at Oliver's unconscious body, then back at Nyssa. "Look, I'm just gonna ask. Nyssa, right?"

Nyssa stiffened at her name being spoken completely devoid of any of the affection or familiarity Sara had ever colored it with.

"You know, good guys typically don't try to poison each other and knock them unconscious." Sara told her. "You know, just a thought."

Laurel seemed to finally catch on to what was happening on the rooftop. She turned to Sara. "Wait, you- You don't remember her?"

Sara looked at her, then at Nyssa, then back to Laurel. "One of Ollie's vigilante friends, right?"

That... was an unexpected response.

Also somewhat insulting, but Nyssa could forgo the insult for the moment to allow her confusion to wash over her.

Sara was alive.

 _Sara was alive._

And she did not remember.

Days later and she was still somewhat reeling from the fact.

"You talk to her yet?" Thea asked, seemingly incapable of completing any of their meditation exercises that day. Nyssa supposed she could understand the young woman's trepidation and unease now that Sara was alive. It was one thing to continue living with the knowledge that she had killed someone she knew, even if it had not been on her own volition, but Nyssa could imagine it must be vastly another when the same person returned to the living.

 _Sara Lance was alive._

"No." Nyssa answered curtly.

Thea raised her hands in surrender, not wanting to be on Nyssa's bad side. She did _not_ want to be the next victim of Nyssa's arsenal of toxins and poisons. She changed topics. "So: Lilian Tate. What's the story?"

Nyssa gave her a sidelong glance.

Thea rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna tell Ollie, half the fun is watching him be annoyed."

"Is he even aware you do not want him dead?" Nyssa asked curiously.

Thea hesitated. "...No?"

Nyssa shook her head in dismay.

When Nyssa learned that Thea had been resurrected with the help of a Lazarus Pit, she had known that dark days were ahead of the young woman, and she had made it a point to concern herself with Thea's welfare; especially upon learning that Oliver Queen had gone on a perhaps-much-needed vacation with Felicity Smoak. She knew that for all of her father's preference of Oliver to be Heir, he had not shared with the American the finer details of how the Lazarus Pit worked.

Or, perhaps, Oliver was truly as simple as Nyssa considered him to be, and had not considered that there were dire consequences to the exchange.

Maybe it was guilt, that Thea's current condition, post-Lazarus Pit, had been necessitated by the actions of Nyssa's father. Or that it had been her quest for justice for Sara's death that had put Thea Queen, as the hand that had unknowingly killed Sara, and consequently Oliver, in her father's radar. For whatever reason, Nyssa felt it was her duty to ensure Thea's safety. And given how Nyssa had actually followed through on her vendetta and killed Malcolm Merlyn, Thea was going to need some protection that her psychotic father wouldn't be able to anymore.

And Nyssa figured she could share some wisdom and advice with Thea on the subject matter of power-hungry, controlling and manipulative fathers. She'd loved and respected her own father, without question, but she knew he hadn't been a benevolent man. As he had often liked to remind Nyssa and Talia, one did not live as long as he had by being kind.

Thea, for her part, had been grateful when Nyssa explained a few things about the Lazarus Pit and how it worked, things that those around her either failed to tell her (which was predictable) or simply did not know to start with (also unsurprising). Nyssa had been the one to tell her that the especially-violent nightmares were to be expected, and that the sudden and unexpected urge to do violence to the people she knew and loved were another side effect that sometimes occurred.

And Nyssa, it seemed, was the only one who knew how - or was willing - to guide and help her control that anger.

So Oliver, making Nyssa out to be the enemy? Yeah, Thea wasn't having any of that.

Sure, maybe she had overplayed and exaggerated Nyssa's instruction for her to put some distance between herself and her brother, after Nyssa had noticed that he was a cornerstone in some of Thea's more violent moments. The distance Nyssa had advised had been with the intent for Thea to put things in perspective, though, not to alienate the siblings, but she hadn't exactly dissuaded Thea from being ruthless in her attacks on Oliver. (Nyssa readily admitted she enjoyed anyone verbally - sometimes physically - putting Oliver Queen down.) And, sure, Thea and Laurel _maybe_ overdid it with pushing Ollie's buttons. But Nyssa had made it clear that for all intents and purposes, despite all appearance to the contrary, she did not set out to harm Oliver – _much_ – and that it would be safest if there was some distance between them and him for the duration of her… _project_.

"You gonna tell him that _you_ don't want him dead?" Thea returned.

But that would be a lie.

Thea shrugged at the lack of a response to confirm or deny. "Okay, good point. But, now that Ollie's... in your hands, tell me about Lilian Tate."

Nyssa acquiesced to admitting at least one basic fact. "Her name is Talia."

"And what does _Talia_ have to say about the fact that your girlfriend's walking and talking?"

"You're sure it is your beloved?" Talia questioned, when Nyssa informed her of Sara Lance's presence in Starling City.

Nyssa sighed.

"Don't sigh." Talia scolded.

Talia didn't know who could have resurrected Sara, since none of the Lazarus Pits they were aware of had been utilized in recent memory, but conceded the possibility that someone could have used one without their knowledge, and there was also the possibility that there were Lazarus Pits in the world that they were not aware of. That the League itself had several in various locations predicated that there could be others.

"Is it appropriate to call her Beloved, when she does not even recall our time together?" Nyssa questioned.

"Her memory of you does not alter your memory of her." Talia returned. Nyssa heard a shuffling of papers on Talia's end of the phone line. "How is your guest?"

"If I were not burdened by the goodwill of those he calls friends, and did not want to risk the possibility of enhancing his mind or body, I would kill him and resurrect him in quick succession. Repeatedly."

"His smug visage does lend itself to violence," Talia agreed. "But is that any way to talk of your husband?"

"Do not offend me."

"You are aware that you are expected elsewhere within the week." A vague allusion to a target for assassination.

"I depart tomorrow." Nyssa informed her.

"And your guest?"

"Will be dealt with."

"Very well. When will you return?"

"When I am able. I will need to administer the antitoxin."

"Then you should take your time."

Nyssa had to smile, because that was probably the closest she had ever heard Talia say anything resembling a joke.

"And your little bird?"

"I do not know."

"Have you considered the possibility that she had been returned for the sole purpose of distracting you?"

Of course she had. It was the obvious reason. People had been going after Sara the moment she had joined the League of Assassins because, as once pointed out to her, even a blind man can tell how Ta'er al-Asfer held the Heir's affections. Even Merlyn had known how to strike at the League of Assassins without directly insulting Ra's al Ghul, instead striking an attack at the Heir.

Talia gave a soft murmur of acknowledgment as she took Nyssa's silence as affirmation. "Good hunting, sister."

"I live to serve." Nyssa returned, ending the call. She glanced down at the gurney in front of her, at the unconscious body of Oliver Queen.

She wondered idly if John Diggle regretted not shooting her on sight back on the rooftop, once he had awoken at the Foundry the next morning to find the subject of his vigil absent.

Nyssa also wondered how someone who had been in Special Forces and had ties to ARGUS could be so susceptible to such weak sedatives.

The poison she had used on Oliver had been potent in its efficiency to work as a contact poison, but its effects were less to kill and more to act as a sedative. Still, it had been amusing to press the blade of a knife to his neck, allowing the poison to take effect, while he had feared for his life in her hands.

She loathed Oliver Queen… hate him on occasion, even, but she wasn't going to _kill_ him, as much as she often dreamt of doing so.

And she had lied about refusing to play games with him, because, well, that had been the whole point of the operation in Starling City.

Well… It had served several purposes, more than just toying with Oliver Queen. Setting up a permanent station in Starling had been to heavily imply to those watching that it was where they had moved the base of their operations after the destruction of Nanda Parbat, and their presence came with the intended bonus of scaring other criminal elements away from the city, thus safeguarding against maniacs such as Slade Wilson.

Crime was on the decline, which meant investors were willing to put in money and help the economy, and the two largest businesses in town were Merlyn Global and Queen Consolidated, and their thriving, if not booming, business, was attributed to its new leadership.

It had been her plan — let it not be said that she did not have a mind for long-term strategy — but she had needed someone to play the part on the more legal and financial side of things. Enter Talia.

Talia al Ghul, aka Lilian Tate, had been born and raised outside the walls of Nanda Parbat; she had only met her father when she had been in boarding school. But when she had been made aware of who exactly her father was, there was already a younger child who had been taken from her mother years earlier and raised within Nanda Parbat, who was being raised and groomed according to its laws and customs. Nyssa had been faster, stronger, better with weaponry, but Talia was smarter and more clever and cunning. When they grew older Talia was entrusted with the assets of the League of Assassins, working on the continued success of its shell companies.

And Nyssa was named Heir to the Demon.

They had grown up resenting each other, Talia of the younger girl who was named Heir by virtue of where she was raised; and Nyssa, despite her dedication and loyalty to her father, constantly derided for her mother's peasant origins, and the comparison to the smarter sister who controlled the finances and assets of the League.

It was dramatically appropriate, then, that the death of the man who had put them at odds would bring them together.

Because Talia may have resented her birthright to become Heir to the Demon being handed to her younger half-sister, but Nyssa was still her sister. When Nyssa had come to see her a few months prior, having slain The Magician, Nyssa had decided that the position of Ra's al Ghul was no longer as coveted as she'd once considered it to be. And since the woman with whom she had wanted to rule as Demon's Head was dead, Nyssa would prefer to continue the legacy of her father alongside her sister, rather than be consumed by the quest for power that had driven their father to his grave.

Nyssa's ascent to becoming Head of the Demon should have been known to anyone acquainted with the League of Assassins, and she had known that the Demon having two heads would have caused more attention, which was why she had destroyed Nanda Parbat. It had become a tainted place, especially after the events that Oliver Queen had played part in while present there, and the new League of Assassins would not be so easily manipulated.

And she had grown tired of walking the same halls and constantly seeing Sara's shadow around the corner.

 _Sara_.

From what Laurel had told her, of the gaps in Sara's memory and the sharp turn of emotions she had displayed since her return, Sara's resurrection was very likely a result of a Lazarus Pit. One hardly used, from what Nyssa could discern, to have been able to resurrect someone who had been dead for months and not mere days. The amnesia was an expected side effect, based on Thea's experience and Nyssa's knowledge. Most memories would inevitably come back, if a little slowly. Sara did not recall how she had ended up in Starling City, only she had woken up in an empty warehouse, and gone to find her way towards the Foundry. When she had seen Laurel dressed in her Black Canary garb descend from the side of a building, she had felt compelled to check out what was on that building's rooftop.

Since then Sara was staying with Laurel, since Oliver was practically squatting at Felicity's and nobody was sure if Sara was aware of herself enough to be around the baby at John and Lyla's house. Thea was out of the question, with her Lazarus Pit-induced nightmares and bouts of rage; Sara had decided to hold off on telling her father about her apparent resurrection until they were sure it a) would hold, and b) was safe; and Nyssa…

Nyssa couldn't stand to be in the same room with the woman she loved but who didn't remember her. Nyssa had offered to pay for a hotel room for Sara, but ultimately it was decided it was safer for Sara to be around someone she knew and trusted (and could hold her own, somewhat, in a fight).

All the while, Oliver had been unconscious on the floor of Nyssa's abandoned bunker, one of the many questionable locations in Starling City's underground, where Nyssa and her henchmen were always at hand to keep him under sedation.

If she were so inclined, she would be concerned of the long-term effects of the drugs she was bringing into his system, but she reckoned he had survived five years in surreal circumstances, this is just another.

(And she figured she was already being quite generous, having set his hand and attended to his arm during his unconsciousness.)

Truthfully she preferred Oliver Queen unconscious: he couldn't make questionable decisions in this state. She knew it wasn't necessary to keep him unconscious - there were other ways to keep him restrained and quiet – but she just was not yet in the state of mind to deal with Oliver Queen, not when her previous plan to confront him had been waylaid by the appearance of Sara Lance. She would need to return him to the Foundry before she left, however.

The contract was convenient, since the League was still keeping the name of the new Demon's Head under wraps, she still went out on assignments as if it were status quo. The time away provided her with some much-needed distance, however, and an incapacitated Oliver Queen had to lay idly by, under a dose of a potent paralytic toxin, unable to do or say anything, until she returned.

That she delayed visiting the Foundry upon her return to deliver the anti-toxin to his paralytic state was not entirely by chance.

Instead, on the first night of her return to Starling, she found herself on a rooftop of a building, partaking in an activity that could only be defined as stalking. She heard the telltale sounds of someone using the fire escape access to the roof, but didn't turn to face her guest. Stealth, it seemed, still failed to register with certain people.

"You're back early."

"Child trafficking. It was not difficult."

Laurel winced. "I thought we'd agreed you wouldn't give me details."

"You don't work for the prosecution anymore."

"Doesn't make what you do any less illegal."

Nyssa conceded that point. She nodded in the direction of a building across the street. "How is she?"

"She's better." Laurel approached Nyssa, and frowned when she realized how easy it was to see through her living room window from their position. She made a mental note to be more vigilant in closing her curtains. In the meantime, though, they could view Sara in the room, looking through old photo albums. "She still has her skills. We were at the Foundry and she basically wiped me to the floor. But she can't remember how or why she has them."

Nyssa didn't bother reminding Laurel she was not yet of the caliber to be engaging in fights with the former Ta'er al-Asfer. "What have you told her?"

"Nothing." Laurel admitted. She paused, considering, before she went ahead and told her, "She's been asking about you."

The flicker of hope came unbidden. "I see."

"We're not sure what to tell her about you." Laurel admitted, unintentionally revealing that Sara still had not remembered her. "She knows you're dangerous - obviously - but she can't figure out why she isn't afraid of you."

"Your sister has no sense of self-preservation."

"She's actually been looking for you this past week."

"Perhaps it would be better to let the matter rest." Nyssa conceded.

Laurel frowned. "You can't really believe that."

She wasn't so sure.

But a part of her refused to give up on hope, still holding on to the belief that one day Sara would remember her.

Because Talia was right: just because Sara did not remember her did not mean how Nyssa felt about her had changed. Because by all accounts Sara was the same, a little darker and moodier, with some gaps in memory, but she was essentially the same as she ever were.

She just did not remember Nyssa.

"Come on." Laurel urged, smiling at the dark-haired woman. "Sara and I were going to go out for milkshakes, you should come along."

Nyssa gave her a look. "Is that necessary?"

"Nyssa, milkshakes are always necessary. You should know that by now."

Nyssa acquiesced.

Let it be known that sharing a table with the one you love while they are unaware of your feelings, and having a third party that was torn between protecting the both of you while simultaneously wanting you together, was torturous levels of hell on earth.

And Nyssa knew about torture.

Sara, meanwhile, seemed oblivious to the undercurrent of emotions of her present company. Instead, she took the time to try to get to know the other woman better. "Laurel said you've been out of town."

"I have been… busy." Nyssa hedged.

Sara regarded her thoughtfully, studying the older woman. "We've met before, right? Not just that night on the roof; from before. You're kind of familiar."

Nyssa tried to give her a smile that was not laden with pain. "Yes."

"I'm sorry I don't remember."

"It's…" Nyssa hesitated, glancing briefly at Laurel, then back to Sara. "You are well. That's all that matters."

Sara smiled faintly, but kept her thread of inquiry. "What are you doing in Starling?"

"Business."

"Vigilante business?"

"Amongst others." Nyssa allowed.

"You don't like Ollie very much."

Laurel snorted, but didn't interfere with the line of questioning.

"Not much, no." Nyssa had a gift for understatement.

"You weren't really going to kill him, right?"

"No."

"But you numbed his arm."

"And broke his hand." Laurel added. "And whatever you gave him had him sitting still and being quiet."

Nyssa gave the older Lance sister a dry look. "He had it coming."

"I'm not arguing, I think I like him quiet." Laurel told her. She nodded, agreeing to herself. "He's better when he doesn't talk."

Sara maybe didn't totally agree. "I've been talking to him, kind of. And Felicity and Dig."

Nyssa was glad she wasn't holding on to the glass of milkshake, because she was sure she would have broken it with her bare hand.

Sara gazed thoughtfully at Nyssa. "Are you part of the team?"

Again Laurel snorted. "Sorry."

"The peanut gallery can stand to be quiet." Nyssa observed.

Laurel made a face at her.

Sara frowned, regarding the two of them, but returned her attention to Nyssa. "I know Laurel's somehow managed to find herself playing hero, but considering you beat up Ollie, how do you two even know each other?"

Laurel glanced at Nyssa, who only raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to provide an answer. Laurel shot her a glare, because ' _she once poisoned me to get you to kiss and make up with her'_ was not an optimal answer, and turned back to Sara. "You don't remember, but you actually introduced us."

"Oh." Sara paused, considering, and turned back to Nyssa. "Were we friends?"

Nyssa wondered if carving out her own heart with a butter knife would be less painful than her current situation.

Only to amend that later that night, while they were on their way back to Laurel's apartment, when Laurel hung back to take a phone call.

Sara's gaze was measuring, analyzing. She had always been too good at reading Nyssa without really trying. "You're uncomfortable, being around me."

It was not a new development. When she had first rescued Sara, it had been difficult for Nyssa to be around her, finding herself easily drawn to the girl. The wiser choice would have been to avoid her, leave her in a populated area in a civilian hospital, and let her recover amid medical professionals. Instead she had persevered, watching over the girl who had been near-death, and taking care of her.

She should have left Sara at a hospital, and not brought her to Nanda Parbat to recover and eventually join the League of Assassins.

She should not have let Sara into her confidence, into her heart, into her bed. She should not have let Sara Lance into her life.

She should have remained steadfast in releasing Sara from her oath, should not have been so eager to have her back and allowed her to return to the League in exchange for their help against Slade Wilson.

She should have known better.

"Nyssa." A hand was placed on her arm, halting her stride, and Nyssa turned to face her beloved.

Her name, in such a familiar tone and voice, and still she should have known better.

"What aren't you telling me?" Sara asked softly. Before Nyssa could issue a reply, she continued. "I feel like I'm missing something. I can't get you out of my mind. I ask about you, as if what happens to you matters to me. Everyone asks me if I've remembered you, like I'm _supposed_ to, like of all the people in the world, more than my parents, my sister, or even the people I grew up with, _you're_ the one I'm supposed to remember. Everyone checks up on me every minute of every day; and you don't, and I feel like that should matter to me. I don't know you, but we knew each other, and you look at me like I'm a dream, and then you can't seem to stand to be around me for long periods of time."

Sara studied her for a long moment, gazing up at her with confusion and wonder, and the worst question possible, given their current situation, was asked.

"What were we to each other?"


	5. Fiduciary

Yes, I totally borrowed from _Angel_. I'm not sorry.

And I wrote this well before issues 23 and 24 of the Arrow 2.5 comics came out, so that's not consistent with what happened here.

* * *

 _"What were we to each other?"_

What answer could be accurate, given the situation?

 _"_ _What were we to each other?"_

They had not parted on the best terms.

 _"I have to go to Starling. And when I get back, we're going to talk about this."_

In the boat that left Starling City, faced with her fear of traveling on or above large bodies of water, Sara had crawled into Nyssa's bed and Nyssa had allowed her. Just because their relationship wasn't repaired meant that the feelings — the care, the compassion, the love and security — just went away.

 _"I know I hurt you, but I won't anymore. I won't make the same mistakes. We won't."_

Sara had promised to return to the League of Assassins, in exchange for their help in saving Starling City. Sara had returned with her to Nanda Parbat, had sworn her oath for the second time, had sworn she would not leave Nyssa again.

 _"I'll fix this. I promise."_

From the phone call made in the middle of the night asking for help, to the moment they parted in Nanda Parbat before Nyssa went on a mission and Sara had to visit Starling City, every night, without fail, Sara looked at Nyssa with honesty, making an oath in the form of a simple statement.

 _"I love you."_

And Nyssa tried, with all her soul, to take those words and fix something in her, the part of her that loved Sara and needed her by her side. But when Sara wasn't looking, all Nyssa heard was the past tense in _"I was with you because I loved you."_

Her own voice, heartbreak in each syllable: _"But not anymore."_

The denial that didn't come.

But she had needed Sara, like air she didn't realize she needed to keep breathing, and she had allowed Sara to try and heal her, fix her. Cover the cracks, the unseen scars, that she had left.

On the surface everything had seemed as they ever were, but they both recognized the difference, neither of them addressing it but both of them trying to make it better. When they were out on the field they were as formidable a partnership as ever, and Nyssa had made it a point to ensure the nature of Sara's assignments were reconnaissance or surveillance, information gathering and tracking. When her father demanded blood, Nyssa sought the most unsavory of characters, to make the kill as justified as possible.

But the words.

 _"I love you."_ I know, habibti. You've said.

 _"I love you."_ And I, you.

 _"I love you."_

Finally, the confrontation. _"Each day I tell you I love you, and each day I wonder if this is the day you'll tell me you don't love me anymore."_

It had been a fight, out in the mountains before Sara left for her assignment to return to Starling City and look for Malcolm Merlyn, a long-term assignment that should have made her happy to be back home with her friends and family but couldn't see it that way, not when their renewed relationship was still so fragile.

And Nyssa, torn between the fear of losing Sara once more to Starling City, and the demands of the League for its Canary to fulfill her duties. She had wanted to go in Sara's stead, but couldn't refute her father's assertion that Sara knew the terrain more than she did, and they needed someone who knew Starling as well as, if not better than, Malcolm Merlyn did.

Indeed, how could Sara leave to prove her loyalty to Ra's, if to do so was to leave Nyssa behind?

One last time, Sara's hands on her cheeks, holding her close, her gaze searching for an answer, any answer, to move past the détente they were stuck in.

 _"I love you. You know that, right?"_

They had loved each other, Nyssa would never deny that, but in the end, after Sara had left her, after Sara had reconciled with Oliver Queen, after Nyssa's father had directed his League and painted a target upon Sara Lance, after Nyssa kidnapped and held Sara's mother hostage, after Sara had returned to the League, and therefore Nyssa, but only as a bargaining tool — how could Nyssa trust that Sara's love remained the same?

 _"When I get back, we're going to talk about this."_

But Sara hadn't come back, and Nyssa had been left behind once again.

And wondered, often, if she had just _said it back_ , just once, maybe Sara would have stayed alive. Would not have let her guard down, would have not been killed so easily.

Because Sara had been killed as a result of her relationship with Nyssa, because to compromise the Heir to the Demon was to compromise the League of Assassins.

Sometimes she envied Talia so much it pained her. Because Talia knew who she was despite being the Daughter of the Demon, knew who she was beyond the name of Talia al Ghul, because a part of her would always be Lilian Tate, who lived out in the world, a woman who had a place in it.

Nyssa Raatko was only a name allowed to her by her father, to remember her mother, to remember the weak child she once had been; it was a name that raised red flags to those who knew it. "Nyssa Raatko" was the warning before the Heir to the Demon came.

And Sara had loved her regardless.

 _"You know that, right?"_

Nyssa didn't turn to acknowledge the woman who sat beside her on the edge of the rooftop, keeping her gaze on some activity out on the docks, of people unloading a cargo ship in the middle of the night and bypassing customs and security.

"Your guys?"

"No."

"And you're just letting them?"

"It pays to be cautious; one can never be too confident in what is contained in those crates."

"Laurel said you'd be here."

"She meddles."

"Nah, her heart's in the right place." Sara waved her hand dismissively.

They succumbed to silence momentarily, until:

"We're really just gonna sit here and watch?"

Nyssa rolled her eyes. "The porters are my men. They will attend to the task once they have secured the property."

"Ah." Sara nodded in understanding. She did not ask why Nyssa had men, or what the property they were securing could be. After a considerable silence, Sara broke it. "I made you uncomfortable, with what I asked the other night."

"Was it obvious?"

"It's just weird." Sara noted. "Like, I know there's something there. It's kind of hard to miss. But I don't remember _you_ , and that's a little freaky."

Nyssa hummed her acknowledgment.

"You don't have to answer the question, by the way, if you don't want to."

"It's not that I do not want to answer, Sara, it is..." Nyssa paused, trying to convey the conflicting emotions behind all the possible answers to the question, without delving into all its implications.

"But we _were_ together." Sara surmised.

"Yes."

"Like, serious, or I was into my hot accents phase and you're really into awesome blond Americans?"

Trust Sara Lance to take the most serious of topics and give it some lightness. "We were involved."

Sara nodded. "Altar-involved, or..."

"We're not married."

"Really?" Sara glanced at her. "I haven't tried to tie you down for life?"

"No."

Sara paused, considering, before she turned back to Nyssa. "Were we happy?"

The answer died in Nyssa's throat. _Had_ they been happy? Nyssa had long ago accepted that happiness was not something meant for her, certainly not after she had been claimed Heir to the Demon. She had brought so much death and darkness into Sara's life; how could happiness be a part of that? And how happy could Sara really have been, to have fled Nanda Parbat in the cover of darkness, leaving Nyssa behind.

"No, hey, sorry." Sara said quickly, realizing she had overreached on that last question. "I didn't... It was stupid, you don't have to answer that."

"It wasn't stupid." Nyssa was quick to reassure. "I just... I had not realized I do not know the answer to that question." She only knew that she had only found the rare moment of happiness in her life when she had been with Sara. She just did not know if _Sara_ had been happy.

They once again fell silent, and once again Sara was the one to break it.

"I get it, you know: why you keep avoiding me."

Nyssa glanced at her.

Sara met her glance. "You don't want to crowd me, knowing how you feel and making me worry. But I worry about you anyway."

Nyssa looked away. "It was not my intention."

"I know it's not. That's the point." A loud crash caught their attention, making them both turn towards the docks, where a fight had ensued, with people scrambling out from hiding places to take part.

"Shouldn't we be helping?"

Nyssa glanced at her. Since her return, Sara would join patrolling the streets of Starling City, but she didn't wear the clothes she'd once worn as The Canary. "You don't have your mask on."

"I have a hoodie." Sara protested.

Nyssa scoffed in derision. "Starling City's Finest are undergoing improved training. We are not the amateur training program of Oliver Queen where a hooded sweatshirt is an acceptable but woefully inadequate disguise to mask your identity. Your identity cannot be compromised simply because you want to join a melee."

Sara pouted. "But it looks like it'd be a fun melee."

"Not tonight, habibti." Nyssa assured her, before she stopped cold and glanced away, scolding herself for the verbal slip. "Not tonight."

Sara sighed, and they watched as the fight continued, the people on the boat losing handily despite their superior numbers. She glanced at Nyssa. " _Habibti_?"

"It is merely a term of endearment."

"That's what you call me?"

Nyssa glanced at her. "You have a lot of questions."

Sara gave her a grin, her wide smile and earnest eyes completely without guile: "I want to know everything about you."

She really should know better.

She ignores the part of her that actually _does_ know better, but blatantly throws caution to the wind.

That was, after all, how everything started with Sara.

Even without Sara's memories, she and Sara have not lost their rhythm as a pair, either as a team in battle or as friends dancing around their attraction to each other. With Oliver in recovery — Nyssa rolled her eyes at everybody's relief that she had not damaged any nerves when she had broken his hand, as if Oliver Queen was the first person whose hand she had damaged, or when the sedatives and toxin she had given him had shown no lasting effects, as if an assassin such as herself would render chemicals without considering all its effects — Sara should have been paired off with John Diggle, but they were both close-combat fighters and as if Nyssa would allow anyone else but herself to watch Sara's back in a fight.

And after their first few nights of patrol, Nyssa had realized that she was the best option to work with Sara, as the underlying rage that plagued Thea also seemed to exist within Sara, contrary to her agreement with Oliver that violence and killing was not always the answer; in fact sometimes it seemed Sara was blinded by her rage and it took Nyssa's considerable skill and stealth to get Sara to snap back into focus. Knowing Oliver Queen's misplaced protective streak and inadequacy at managing emotions (yes, she was aware of the hypocrisy), Nyssa had decided her experience from working with Thea could be applicable to Sara as well.

Sara had been relieved to realize she did not have to hide or excuse that rage and darkness to Nyssa, and found she did not have to censor herself around the taciturn older woman, either.

And patrolling was fun, since unlike when she would have to go out with Thea or Laurel, Sara didn't have to divide her attention in ensuring Nyssa's safety.

Plus incident-free nights meant she and Nyssa went out for a drink after.

Nyssa had rolled her eyes at Thea and Laurel's assertions that Nyssa had never brought either of them out to dinner before going out on patrol, with milkshakes or a nightcap after a successful night.

Perhaps threatening them with violence if they followed through on their suggestion of joining her and Sara for dinner or the nightcap — "Team Bonding!" Thea had cracked sarcastically — had been unnecessary, but it was often hard to tell how well those two took orders.

(Once Thea had found out Laurel and Nyssa had gone out for celebratory milkshakes before, she had become even more vocal against the favoritism. It wasn't her fault she was related to Oliver, she'd sulked.)

"And you just let Laurel and Thea out to patrol by themselves?" Sara asked now, as Nyssa explained how she had unofficially divided Starling City for her team, Team Arrow, and Laurel and Thea to patrol individually without getting in the way of each other.

"No." Nyssa shook her head. "I have at least one of my best men watching them. If I am in town, I trail them, as well."

"So you're just the better option than Ollie."

"That goes without saying." Nyssa remarked. "They're not incompetent, despite his efforts to stall or hinder their development. And the best way for them to learn is through experience. They can be formidable by their own right, but as of now they are both still learning. I or my men merely ensure that they would be able to walk away and learn what they ought to."

"But you're not one of Ollie's band of Merry Men."

Nyssa spared a small smile for the Robin Hood reference: perhaps a part of Sara remembered Nyssa's disdain for Oliver Queen's green-hooded persona. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I despise him."

Sara laughed. "That's not enough of a reason."

Nyssa glanced at her. "He and I do not see eye to eye on a great many things. Were it not for the people we have in common, I would not hesitate to be rid of him entirely from my life."

"Is it because he's seen me naked?"

Nyssa grimaced. "Among a great many other reasons."

Sara paused. "Have _you_ seen me naked?"

"That's an inappropriate question."

"It's okay. I used to kinda party hard and sleep around, so…"

Yes. Nyssa had wanted to gouge out the eyes of those other people who had seen Sara naked before, and time had not changed that perspective, once more reminded of Sara's past promiscuity. And she still wanted to cut the hands off those who had ever forcefully lain their hands upon her.

"Hey," Sara said suddenly, tapping Nyssa's arm with her bo staff, "do you think I can take you in a fight?"

"No."

"Ollie's still grumbling about how you cheated…"

"He is the very definition of a sore loser."

Sara eyed her critically. "I think I can take you. I'm small and compact, and quicker than most people."

They'd had this conversation before, a long time ago. Sara had been out of a few assignments without Nyssa to watch her and had started sparring with some of the other senior members of the League, and after getting the drop on Al-Owal once, Sara had entertained the idea that she could handle the Heir to the Demon. The League's members had laughed and egged her on, and had somehow talked Nyssa into taking the bet. Unfortunately for Sara, Nyssa had been in a game of cat and mouse with ARGUS on her most recent assignment — while also completing her job — and had been in no mood to engage her Canary.

Two seconds. Between Sara's initial attack and ending up on the ground. Nyssa hadn't been in the mood, and while she would never hurt Sara, she'd had to remind those others in the League that she was Heir for a reason.

She had spent the rest of the night easing the ache from Ta'er Al-Asfer's body, begging forgiveness with touch and words, in the privacy of her room.

When Nyssa didn't answer, and her expression flashing briefly with an unnamed emotion that Sara could only categorize as sadness, she grew somber and stepped closer to the dark-haired woman. "It's okay, you know. To miss her. The me you know."

"It seems pitiful, when you're here." Nyssa admitted.

"Do you think I'll ever remember?" Sara questioned.

Nyssa didn't know. She had talked to Talia about it, how the League of Assassins and Nyssa were the only gap in Sara's memory, and they had both drawn a blank on the reasons why. The Lazarus Pit returned people altered, they knew, and Thea could attest to the momentary amnesia, but the gaps had filled out quickly for her. The blank space in Sara's memory were centered on the years she had been with Nyssa. It led credence to their suspicion that Sara's return was related to Nyssa, and therefore the League.

Nyssa wondered if what she'd said before, that there had to be a reason why Sara's memory failed her, came back to haunt her every day Sara looked at her and did not know what they had meant to each other.

"What if I don't ever remember?" Sara posed the question thoughtfully. "What do you think we'll do differently?"

"We?" Nyssa echoed.

"Well, are you really gonna just let me go?"

She should.

"What do you think you'd do differently?" Sara queried.

She would try to be better. A better lover to Sara, instead of dividing her time and attention between being the woman Sara loved and the daughter that served as Heir to the Demon.

Except she was Head of the Demon, and if being Heir had made loving difficult before, there was no question that this time would be far more trying.

"I think I know what you should do differently."

Nyssa quirked an eyebrow, intrigued at what this amnesiac Sara Lance had decided would improve on her relationship with Nyssa.

"You should take me out on a date."

"A date?"

"Yeah." Sara nodded to herself in confirmation. "Dinner. Flowers. Movies, maybe? Dancing. Do you dance?"

Amnesiac Sara had a point: their previous relationship had been marked by secrecy and urgency, never having enough privacy for just themselves. They were either on the job and sneaking in time alone in between, or in Nanda Parbat and avoiding (or ignoring) the disapproving glare of Nyssa's father. And most of their time alone together was spent in hotel rooms. They had become connoisseurs of a sort, having rendezvoused in places both luxurious and functional, from the worst hostels to five-star lap-of-luxury hotels.

Dinners were usually part of surveillance. Flowers did not thrive in the harsh climate and dark corridors of Nanda Parbat. Most movies easily bored Nyssa and made Sara yearn for a life she no longer had, so those had been few. And dancing?

"I mean," Sara continued, when Nyssa offered no opinion on the concept, "I'm not just gonna put out until you at least buy me a real dinner."

Nyssa had no idea what Sara meant, but she could guess.


	6. Ultrahazardous Activity

Gosh, I had forgotten how soon the new season was going to return. Sorry for the delay, but hopefully this will be finished around the time of the new season premiere. (Doubtful, but hope is a wonderful thing.)

* * *

The relationship felt different, she knew, because it _was_ different. Unlike when she and Sara had first started their ill-advised (according to her father) relationship, which had been marked by the both of them sharing their deepest, darkest secrets as a warning to the other of exactly who and what they were getting involved with, this time Nyssa was deliberately keeping a secret from Sara. And not just any secret, but something she usually included in her introduction, to make evident to those she met exactly who they were talking to.

As if it weren't bad enough that nobody was telling Sara about the League of Assassins, or why Nyssa and Oliver were so at odds when it came to her presence in Starling City.

So far, it had been manageable: Abiding by Starling City's laws and making mockery of Oliver Queen's stance against killing kept Nyssa's harsher form of justice from being observed, thus making Nyssa seem like any other vigilante that walked Sara's home. Nyssa made no secret of her upbringing under a strict and unrelenting father, which made Sara understand why she was standoffish and taciturn with most people. Sara remembered her time on the Amazo and Lian Yu, and did not shy away from sharing her darkest secrets with Nyssa, finding in her someone who understood, especially the darker parts of her that sometimes wanted vengeance, and the part of her that still had nightmares about it. She still did not know the reasons behind her fighting physical prowess, and by consensus it had been agreed that unless Sara remembered on her own, nobody was to remind her of when she was Ta'er al-Asfer, because if anyone deserved to be free of the pain and suffering she had caused, if only to take a small measure of comfort from the lack of knowledge, it would be Sara.

Except to keep her men in check and ensure their obedience, Nyssa's responsibilities to the League of Assassins were kept out of Starling City, and she excused her irregular schedule and absences to her work, an unlabeled entity that she could only reveal demanded her to constantly travel anywhere, at any time.

She had no idea what Sara had concluded her work to be, or what Sara's friends told her, only that Sara seemed to accept the most shallow of excuses, but even Nyssa didn't need the emotional depth necessary to know and conclude that the reprieve would only last for so long. Anyone would grow tired of excuses and half-reasons, before they forced a confrontation for more information.

Nyssa harbored no illusion that she would get away with evasive answers for very long. As she had known from the start, Sara Lance had a habit of reading her far too well.

And to make matters worse, the foothold that the League had managed to establish in Starling was increasingly stabilized, with major crimes on the decline – at least publicly – and the League's trainees doing excellent work as law-abiding vigilantes, and Talia had already warned her that as Demon's Head, their time in Starling would soon come to an end, that they would soon be needed elsewhere.

Even though Nyssa was now a woman without a home, since she had burned down Nanda Parbat.

But at least she could be at peace with the knowledge that Sara was safe amongst friends, and some of the men she would be keeping within Starling City were familiar with the workings of the Lazarus Pit, and did not question how or why Sara Lance once again walked among the living. Some still recognized Sara as the Beloved of the former Heir and now Demon's Head, and their allegiance to Nyssa extended to keeping her beloved safe.

But even they were unable to prevent Sara from finding a fight, if she really wanted one.

Sara had been on solo patrol, and was supposed to meet up with Laurel and Thea, when she came across a group of four men harassing a woman on her way from an office building to the bus station, in the more questionable parts of downtown Starling City, and when she realized they were not backing down or had any intention of letting the woman reach the bus stop, Sara called the men's attention to herself.

She won't say she was disappointed when they took the bait.

Nor would she say she wasn't pleased when an arrow prevented one of the men from making a hasty escape, once they realized their superior numbers meant nothing against the blond woman. She smiled brightly when a dark-clad figure joined her on the ground. "Took you long enough."

"You seemed to be enjoying yourself." Nyssa stood in the middle of the fight, avoiding attacks to herself but not really engaged in the fight.

Sara laughed, one well-timed punch to the jaw knocking one of the men unconscious. "You're late, by the way."

"I had matters to attend to." Nyssa grabbed the arm of the man seeking to scramble out of the fight, and hauled him in Sara's direction, whose kick sent him into a nearby wall.

"By the way," Sara started, ducking a punch. "You should know that Laurel said we can't have sex on her couch."

Nyssa was grateful she had not been about to loose an arrow, because that statement would surely have sent it astray, but more to the point: "I'm sorry?"

"So am I." Sara agreed. She sidestepped another punch, simultaneously bringing her bo up to knock out one of the assailants about to attack Nyssa from behind, then whipping it back to hit another thug before Nyssa could hit him. "But third dates are usually the point of no return, and we passed that a while back, but you've been all courteous and nineteenth century on me, so who even knows when we'll ever actually have sex, but if and when we ever do, we can't do it on Laurel's couch."

Because Sara insisted on staying on Laurel's couch, unsure of where else she could go, as the reasons behind her resurrection were still a mystery and could still prove to be dangerous to those around her.

Nyssa, operating on auto-pilot, finished off the last of the thugs with a casually-aimed arrow to the thigh. She hated not just killing them outright, but for all intents and purposes, she really needed to keep the peace with Oliver Queen.

Still, though.

At Nyssa's still-stunned silence — because she had never been in the situation of having anybody dictate where or when she could have sex with anybody ever — Sara continued casually, as if they hadn't just been in the middle of a street fight, "and, in case you're missing it, that's totally my subtle way of pointing out we never go to your place."

For that, Nyssa had Reasons. As far as Sara knew she was staying in a hotel, and she admittedly sometimes _was_ , but under an assumed name, and anyone even remotely acquainted with the League of Assassins could recognize her. Anyone staking out the hotel would be able to recognize her, and if anyone were to see Sara, and realize their relationship? Then Sara's return to life, keeping her safe, keeping her away from any business of the League, would be forfeit.

And Nyssa would only have herself to blame.

As it were she was already becoming increasingly careless with their nights out, their so-called "dates", bringing Sara out to restaurants and diners that she had deemed acceptable around the city, or to places Sara loved in her home and wanted to share with Nyssa. At least Sara had made her distaste for the more expensive and popular places known, which helped in keeping their budding relationship under cover.

And still Nyssa risked Sara's safety for the sake of romance.

She hated to admit it, but her father was right: emotional entanglements had no role to play in being Demon's Head.

And still she could not turn away from Sara.

As for the matter at hand… She could opt to bring Sara to the League safe house, where she had a penthouse suite and nobody, not even Felicity Smoak and her access to all kinds of information, knew about. But could she realistically bring Sara there and expect the location to be kept secret, for Sara to resist inquiry, when Oliver Queen was foaming at the mouth to cut the Fang of the Demon from his Starling City, especially after he had been bested in a truly humiliating manner?

Or.

"You're fixing the clock tower?" Sara asked, amazed, at the structure slowly being rebuilt by hired contractors.

"I am paying to have it fixed," Nyssa corrected, settling on a stack of canvas sheets that would later be placed to cover the wooden flooring from paint and plaster of the walls and ceiling. "Your friend Sin told me about it, when we became acquainted."

Sara turned to her. "And she told you?"

It had taken time, but eventually Nyssa had gotten Sin to at least afford her a little trust, their mutual bond over the loss of Sara and wish to see an improvement in the Glades enough of a foundation. When Nyssa had first arrived in Starling with the directive to fix its streets, Sin had complained that the city wanted to tear down the clock tower as part of the city's rehabilitation, sharing the reason for her affection for the structure, leading Nyssa to purchase the property and having it fixed, with the hope of providing Sin decent shelter, as well as to honor Sara.

Sin had scoffed in derision and maybe-not-so-mild incredulity at the ill-advised act of charity, but the work had already been underway.

And now Sara had returned.

Nyssa smiled wryly. "It was my trustworthy face."

Sara gave her a dry look in return, before bursting into a grin. "So is this like going to be your place, once it's fixed?"

Nyssa eyed the interior skeptically. "That hadn't been the intention." It could never be the intention, because she and Talia had never intended for either of them to stay in Starling for very long. Nyssa had just wanted something concrete that belonged to Sara, if only emotionally, that wasn't a gravestone that showed nothing of who the woman had been.

Sara glanced around, taking one last visual tour of the renovation, before turning to face Nyssa, joining her on the pile of canvas sheets, and straddling the brunette's lap. "Where were we?"

For a little while, it was easy to forget. Just as before, when she had been Heir, it was easy to find comfort in Sara Lance, to forget about her responsibilities and the world outside that would do everything in its power to ensure that happiness would be an elusive concept. Years with Sara had made her forget, and Sara's death had been a harsh reminder.

Sara's return should have made her believe that happiness was possible, but instead it only served as a constant reminder.

And still she could not refuse to seek solace, to touch and taste and feel Sara, to trace the familiar contours but feel the unfamiliar unblemished skin under her fingertips.

She _wanted_. Nyssa burned, she pined, she perished.

"I wish we could stay like this forever." Sara said quietly, after.

She lied. "And we shall, Sara."

Sara smiled, a beatific vision that seared itself into Nyssa's memory, before she curled up into Nyssa and allowed Nyssa's warmth and softness to lull her into sleep.

When Sara woke up, it was to the sound of Nyssa moving around the clock tower, stealthily getting dressed while evidently trying not to wake Sara. She was speaking in a low whisper, probably on the phone, and past experience of being used by non-boyfriends to cheat on their girlfriends with made Sara's eavesdropping instincts kick in.

Nyssa spoke in a mix of English and Arabic — and whoa since when did Sara understand Arabic? — until finally Nyssa muttered, "I do not understand why this triviality requires my presence."

Pause.

A heavy sigh. "And it cannot wait?"

Another pause.

"I understand. Yes."

A lengthy pause.

Some more Arabic, which Sara's sleep-addled brain could translate as being tired of the same conversation. "I would rather not discuss it over the phone. You know where my loyalty lies."

Pause.

A sharp intake of breath, then: "I was made to choose before, and if forced you know what I would choose still." A deliberate pause, in which Sara made it a point to remain as calm as possible, pretending to still be asleep, before Nyssa spoke again. "If it keeps her safe, I would always choose the same."

Pause.

"By your will." Then a heavy sigh, punctuating the end of the conversation. A lapse, before: "Did I wake you?"

Damn it. Sara opened her eyes, and turned to find Nyssa a few feet away, hidden in the shadows where the moonlight drifting in from the skylight didn't reach. "I was cold."

"I apologize." Nyssa said softly, approaching the pile of canvas sheets that served as their makeshift bed. She knelt down to come closer to the blonde, and placed her coat beside Sara, offering it as a better blanket than the piece of cloth that they'd found that was caked with old paint.

Sara took in her state of dress, and smiled wryly. "Leaving already?"

"There is an emergency."

Sara indicated the phone in Nyssa's hand. "Who were you talking to?"

Nyssa shook her head. "I wish I could stay."

Sara smiled ruefully, giving a far-too-casual shrug as if she hadn't noticed the blatant avoidance in answering her question, or the fact that Nyssa had been about to leave without saying goodbye. "Hey, business calls, right?"

Nyssa frowned, hating the brave front that Sara conveyed. "Have I done something wrong?"

Sara averted her eyes, picking at some chipped paint on her makeshift blanket. "No, I mean, we got laid, right? End of story."

Nyssa's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

Sara turned, the glare in her eyes catching Nyssa off-guard. "Yeah, I don't either. All I know is that you were on the phone declaring your loyalty to someone else while sneaking out on me after the first time we slept together." She turned away, refusing to spend another second looking at Nyssa's hurt expression.

"Sara."

Sara shook her head stubbornly.

"Given the choice, I would never leave your side again." Nyssa said quietly, resting her hand just beside Sara's on the blanket, careful not to touch her. "I would spend lifetimes by your side, if that were a possibility I was afforded. But I made my choices long before I met you, some of which were made for me and I cannot turn my back on now."

"You were just going to leave." Sara accused, in a whisper that started harshly but faltered brokenly at the end.

"Would you believe me if I said it was easier, than to look you in the eye and attempt and fail at telling you goodbye?" Nyssa asked, in a tone that was both a joke and heartwrenchingly earnest.

Sara closed her eyes, sighing, before opening them again and turning to Nyssa. "I'm trying to be mad and you're saying stuff like that? I hate you so much right now."

Nyssa smiled wryly. "Almost as much as I hate myself for leaving your side, I imagine."

Sara groaned, and cupped both Nyssa's cheeks with her hands, pulling her close to place a kiss on her lips. "You're gonna have to make it up to me, you know."

Nyssa returned the kisses with equal fervor. "Flowers and chocolates. I remember."

"And sex. Don't forget the sex."

Nyssa's hands drifted to places she really shouldn't, not if she wanted to get going anytime soon. "How could I possibly."

Sara would never know that Nyssa being late and looking a little dishevelled would have gotten her into so much trouble, had she still only been Heir.

Except it was too bad Sara's interest had been piqued by that phone call, her curiosity winning out over her desire to trust Nyssa.

Sure, she _trusted_ Nyssa: nobody went into a fight without trusting the person assigned to watch your back. And she could tell Nyssa her darkest thoughts and know that she wouldn't be judged for them, or be offered platitudes of how things could get better because they didn't know that, despite Felicity's boundless optimism.

But she knew nothing about Nyssa. Not what the nature of her business was, why she had excellent marksmanship, or why she had chosen Starling City to be the site of her vigilantism. She didn't even know why Nyssa had chosen to join a crusade as seemingly-bleak as fighting crime in The Glades.

She didn't even know what Nyssa's last name was.

And for everything she didn't know about Nyssa, there was a conflict between Oliver and his cohorts and Laurel and Thea, and the crux of the conflict seemed to be Nyssa. From what Sara could discern, Oliver had trusted his work against crime to John, Laurel and Thea, while he took a break with Felicity to recover from a harsh year.

But then he came back, and when he found out that Laurel and Thea weren't just fighting petty crime, and instead getting into bigger and meaner criminal elements, he had stepped back in and tried to dissuade them from going after such dangerous targets.

Nyssa, apparently, thought otherwise.

And Nyssa was also operating independently from Oliver's operations – she had _henchmen_ , for crying out loud – and their showdown some nights ago had proven that there was no love lost between the two archers. And for whatever reason, her mere presence in Starling seemed to put Oliver on edge.

Sara just didn't know _why_.

Curiosity won out, but she knew Thea was very much on Team Nyssa and would never divulge her secrets, while Laurel took attorney-client privileges to extremes (Sara wondered if that was her fault, since she made Laurel pinky-swear to almost everything back when they had been children), which left Diggle, Felicity, Lyla and Oliver as sources of information.

But since their opinions of Nyssa weren't exactly anything close to being labelled as positive, Sara decided to turn to a more objective form of information gathering.

Sneaking into the Foundry was ridiculously easy, and Felicity had told her how to gain access to some of her more basic system of getting information.

Turns out she hadn't even needed to try to hack into more encrypted and secure systems to get information, because even the most basic of searches pulled up a name, and "Raatko, Nyssa" was a very popular (wanted) woman.

Sara stared at the long list of suspected crimes, assassinations and destroyed properties attributed to the woman. And then there was the bullet point at the ARGUS warning: "Affiliation: League of Assassins, aka League of Shadows, aka The Demon".

It helped, somewhat, that wherever it was Nyssa had disappeared to, she was unable to get in touch, but then the silence only ever fed to Sara's paranoia of where Nyssa could be, of what she was doing (who she was killing). But it gave Sara some time and distance to reconcile the woman she knew with the woman suspected of an extraordinary amount of criminal activity (that there were no concrete evidence or convictions was just proof of how good Nyssa was at her job).

The one time Nyssa finally called, Sara found herself answering in vague terms and not quite sure on how to talk to the other woman, finally making the excuse that she was tired and distracted, something Nyssa mercifully took at her word.

Except.

Nyssa never called again. Sara wasn't sure who had spilled the beans to Nyssa — judging from Thea's icy glare at both Lance sisters it was Laurel — but the silence extended to Nyssa's absence in Starling City. Sara hated the fact that Nyssa had just chosen to up and leave, as if their relationship hadn't been enough for Sara to warrant an explanation. And Thea didn't bother hiding her anger and resentment for everyone left in Starling, especially when she found out Oliver was going against the very thing Nyssa had told him not to do – poking around every channel he could find trying to learn more information about Lilian Tate's connection to Nyssa and the League – and that they had all inadvertently driven away the one person she felt truly understood what she was going through.

Sara could sympathize, but Thea wasn't having any of it.

"She'll come back," Sara assured Thea, after nearly a month had passed, one night when Thea had nearly beat a thug senseless before both Lance sisters managed to break her blind rage, trying to get the younger girl to talk. She told her that not because it was something she thought Thea would like to hear, but because she honestly believed it to be true. Nyssa _would_ return to Starling, she was certain; Sara just didn't know for whom, or what she would do it for.

"Why?" Thea retorted, turning angrily to face Sara. "What for? The love of her life decided Nyssa's too dangerous and scary to have around, much less talk to, why try to be anyone else but be Nyssa al Ghul?"

Nyssa _al Ghul_.

 _The Demon_.

Sara's Arabic was still a bit rusty, but she could recognize the phrase. The chill that went up her spine was a clear warning that her involvement with Nyssa was far beyond the usual relationship trouble.

Life goes on, even though Sara felt the void Nyssa's absence had left behind keenly.

And then Lilian Tate gets kidnapped.


	7. Ultra vires

Nyssa al Ghul was a formidable woman any day, and scary almost all of the time, but the ferocity with which she stormed into the Foundry was a new and not welcome development to everyone inside. She stormed right up to Oliver, who was stood ready to deal with her, before her hand shot out, grabbed his neck, and in a move that was both startling and almost superhuman, threw him down to the ground, her hand firmly on his throat.

"You went and confronted my sister?" She demanded, tone sharp and deadly, ignoring the guns of John Diggle and his wife pointed at her; ignoring Sara in a defensive stance covering Felicity. Laurel stood beside Felicity at the computer panel, while Thea stood near the foot of the stairs, having trailed Nyssa into the room.

" _Sister._ " Felicity breathed in surprise and enlightenment. "That makes more sense." She turned to Sara, then Laurel, in question. "Nyssa has a sister?"

"You have a sister?" Lyla asked, startled.

Nyssa ignored them, and glared down at Oliver Queen. "You went and sought her out, in your Robin Hood guise; as if we have not yet made our affairs clear to you, to avoid this very problem. After weeks of questioning my men, of questioning those whose criminal activity I have placed under my rule of law, you question the very nature of her involvement with the League, and you sit here idly by while she is held against her will?"

"I didn't know!"

"That is the point!" Nyssa snapped, pushing him away in disgust and standing up. "I receive word of her disappearance, of ransom for her life, and I am unable to act, or think rationally, only to be informed by my men that she was targeted because of your recklessness?"

"Ollie." Thea groaned in exasperation, but nobody paid attention to her.

"Lilian Tate is your sister?" Diggle asked, because that point seemed to require confirmation.

Nyssa shot him a disparaging look. "Am I speaking in foreign tongues? Who else has been taken under your watch that I could be related to?"

John relented at the subtle insult, and Lyla pat his arm sympathetically.

"Lilian Tate is your sister?" Oliver asked.

Because he is so very slow on the uptake. Nyssa's look of loathing was his answer.

"If you had a sister—" Oliver began.

"I _have_ a sister. But why was I forced to marry you and produce grandchildren of my father?" Nyssa snapped. "Because I was the Heir to the Demon, I was the Demon's to command. Lilian Tate is far beyond merely Daughter to the Demon, she has a destiny beyond the League. I was the one unfortunate enough to have been shaped into my father's will."

"Wait, you're married?" Sara asked suddenly. She pointed between Nyssa and Oliver. "To each other?"

"It's a long story." John told her.

"Her father made us." Oliver offered.

"He is easily manipulated." Nyssa seethed at Oliver.

"Apparently not that long." John amended.

"Where does Tate fit in all this?" Felicity asked.

"Lilian Tate _exists_ outside of the will and command of the League, she is of The Demon, but not its Fang. And you have put her in the crosshairs of our enemies, because you," Nyssa pointed at Oliver angrily, "are too pigheaded to acknowledge when you had been bested!"

"I was defending my city!"

"We are rebuilding your city!" Nyssa shot back. "We do not merely crawl in the underbelly, weeding out those who betray and abuse the system. We are reshaping it, we are rebuilding Starling City to a greater purpose. We abide by the law, by your prudish rules, and you repay our goodwill by risking her life?"

"I needed to know what she was after!"

"And still you refuse to listen!"

"Guys, calm down." Laurel interjected, but was largely ignored.

Oliver glared at Nyssa. "How can I trust someone working in my city when I know she has ties to the League?"

"Because you are supposed to trust me!" Nyssa exclaimed. "If not me, then at least your sister. Or Laurel. I would not put them to harm. I told you, repeatedly, that I would not harm my beloved's home. If there is anything about me that you could trust, you could trust that I would never betray her memory. Unlike you, I would never turn my back on those I love."

Snap.

They all turned to Thea, who smiled wryly. "Sorry, did I say that out loud?"

Felicity, unable to take the tension that followed Nyssa's tirade, spoke up, albeit cautiously, careful not to further Nyssa's anger. "If keeping her identity a secret is such a big deal, why tell anyone? Why tell us?"

The wry choke of a laugh that escaped Nyssa's lips was bitter, nearly hysterical. "Because I unwisely thought you were worthy of that trust." She shook her head. "For reasons that escape me now, I considered the possibility that if anything were to happen to me, I could trust the Arrow and his people to look after her."

Sara watched as Laurel approached the taller woman, and felt a pang of anger and jealousy when she saw Nyssa accept the comforting hand that her own sister placed on Nyssa's arm.

"We will." Laurel assured her.

"Mr. Queen's recklessness betrays that promise." Nyssa said dryly.

"Moving forward." Laurel amended, earning a small smile from the assassin.

"We don't know who has her." Felicity interrupted softly. "Since we found out, I've been trying to find her, but..."

"I have my suspicions." Nyssa told her shortly. She kept her glare upon Oliver. "Your actions will require reparation. My sister's identity had been kept a secret for a reason, and it will continue to be The Demon's secret. Your misdeeds necessitate a cull. Do you understand?"

Oliver set his jaw, not answering.

"A cull?" Diggle repeated, although a large part of him wondered if he really wanted to know.

"Those who are aware of her ties to the League — to me — but should not, will have to be eliminated." Nyssa's glare kept steady upon Oliver, the unstated threat clear: the cull would not be limited to those holding her sister. "This matter will be dealt with by The League, by the laws of The Demon. You are not to be involved. If you try, I cannot guarantee that you will not be harmed by our hand. Do you understand?"

"We can help." Laurel offered.

Nyssa spared her a brief glance. "This is a matter for The League, Laurel. I cannot have you involved."

"If I've sworn allegiance to The Demon, can I be involved?" Thea asked.

"Thea." Oliver said sharply.

"I would rather you do not." Nyssa told the younger woman.

Thea frowned. "She's my friend, too. And she's your sister, so—"

"Miss Queen." Nyssa said sharply. "No."

Thea sulked, but relented to the thinly-veiled command.

"What are you going to do?" Oliver demanded.

Nyssa glanced at him. "They seek ransom. Power. They seek notoriety, and fame. We will lead them to their deaths."

"Nyssa—"

"They insult the Demon, Mister Queen. And endanger the life of Lilian Tate. Both of which are unacceptable, and they must pay with their lives." Nyssa glanced around the room, her gaze lingering more than a beat longer upon Sara, before she focused back on Oliver. "You have called upon the wrath of The Demon, Mister Queen. I had warned you not to act against my wishes."

"You can't-"

Nyssa glared at him. "It is my sister. If nothing else, surely you can understand that."

Oliver met her glare evenly, the two of them locked in a glaring match, waiting for the other to blink first. In the end, the one commonly considered to be the cold-blooded killer won, Oliver's gaze flickering over to Thea, and nodded briefly.

"Try not to burn the city down." Diggle suggested.

Nyssa spared him a glance. "I make no promises."

A lot of money had to be dispensed, to indicate to any casual onlookers that Lilian Tate was out of the country on vacation, and not that Lilian Tate was missing. Her secretary and personal assistant was a member of The League, and dutifully kept Talia's schedule in order, keeping inquiries of her whereabouts at bay. Lilian Tate had a lot of money, and had access to private jets and private beaches anywhere she wanted; she did not need anyone's permission to go on vacation.

Meanwhile the League of Assassins prepared to reclaim the other Demon's Head.

Avoiding and keeping out of the way of the League of Assassins was a little more difficult than Nyssa's directive would imply: seemingly overnight, the streets of Starling City were cleaned of the mercenaries or guns-for-hire that strayed into Starling. Petty criminals stayed indoors once one of them had made the mistake of running into a ninja vigilante and got sent to the emergency room for his trouble, with a knife through his hand. These were not the law-abiding vigilantes of recent months. The League was sending out a warning, and pity those who did not heed it.

Nobody brought up the question of what Nyssa and her League did to Lilian Tate's bodyguards whose incompetence had led to the abduction.

Then they had received word from Central City that a human trafficking kingpin had a boat at port nearby, and Oliver and his team, including Sara, went to check it out before Nyssa got wind of it, because Starling had become what Oliver had feared: a staging ground for the wrath of the League of Assassins.

Thea and Lyla stared at each other from the best vantage point for an eagle's nest at a building nearby, wide-eyed and startled at seeing the other. "What are you doing here?"

"I followed Nyssa." Thea answered.

Lyla's eyes widened, and she activated her comms. "Felicity, we have a problem."

Unfortunately, the League of Assassins had no use for communication devices in this instance, as they had their orders and nothing short of death were to prevent them from fulfilling them. It was a rescue mission for one half of the Demon's Head, and only the best of their ranks were part of the mission; judging from the bodies that littered the boat, the Demon was very, very angry.

"Guys, just leave." Thea told Lyla, watching as a mix of workers from the boat and some scrub ninjas engage Oliver and Diggle, and she was worried that Nyssa was serious about the probability of friendly fire when it came to Oliver. She knew Nyssa wouldn't permanently harm either man, but she honestly wasn't sure if she could say the same for any of her assassins.

"There's a manifest of what other ships operate under this guy," Lyla told her, following a tank of a man with her sniper rifle, trying to get a clear shot. "This isn't just about one hostage."

"It's not just about her sister." Thea muttered, eyes glancing all over the ship, trying to find the familiar form of Nyssa, but she knew that Nyssa and her best lieutenants had entered the ship long before her men had caused a distraction. She knew Nyssa would give her hell about not following direct orders, but since she had sworn allegiance to the Demon's Head and not the oath of the League of Assassins, she had some leeway in this blatant disobedience.

Inside the ship, with its darkened halls and only emergency lights lit — a group that was also known as the League of Shadows were probably trained to fight in the cloak of darkness, Sara surmised — Sara followed the trail of blood and bodies, batons at the ready, ignoring the thrill of anticipation that coursed through her body, as well as the trepidation of what she knew she would inevitably find. As she cautiously made her way up to the bridge, she could hear the sounds of fighting, of weaponry and gunfire, and hoped none of her friends were on the receiving ends of those sounds. What had started as a stealthy search and rescue of the people on the ship that were to be sold and trafficked elsewhere, once Sara chased down some men into the main structure and found the hallways littered with bodies, she had realized they had stepped into the middle of the League of Assassins' war.

About a beat later, Felicity's voice came through their communication channel and announced that Thea had followed Nyssa there.

Although, that would explain why the power had been switched off on a boat scheduled to leave later that night.

Ignoring any part of her that screamed self-preservation, Sara trailed what her instincts told her was Nyssa's path of destruction, figuring that if she got anywhere close to the captain's quarters she could grab the ledger that they had been told listed what other ships smuggled people out of the country to be sold.

Sara tried not to gag when the next two bodies she came across had their hands cut off. They must have royally pissed off Nyssa, to have been given that much pain before killing them.

A hand came out of nowhere, cupping Sara's mouth from behind and pulling her into a room, the strong grip preventing her from yelling or calling out in alarm.

Nyssa glared at her. "It's not safe for you to be here."

"Are you insane?" Sara hissed. "I could have hit you!"

Nyssa gave her a wry look.

"The guy that owns the boat is into human trafficking, and the captain has a list of their other ships." Sara opted to just explain her presence on the ship.

Nyssa studied her for a moment, before nodding curtly. "I will retrieve the ledger. But you must leave."

"No."

"Sara."

"No." Sara shook her head. "I don't see you with backup."

"I do not need—"

"You should have someone watching your back." Sara reminded. "You taught me that."

"My lieutenants also occupy the ship." Nyssa pointed out.

"Oh, really? Like who, Sarab?"

"Did Mr. Queen not tell you-" Nyssa stopped herself, both because she knew better than to expect Oliver to share pertinent details, and also because she was in the middle of a rescue mission.

"Everybody could benefit from a person on their six, you know that."

Nyssa acquiesced to that point, but still. "This is far too dangerous, _habibti_. I can handle this."

"Seriously?"

Nyssa examined the interior of the room they were in, trying to gauge how she could contain Sara inside. "The one holding my sister is a mercenary, Sara, and one unfortunate enough to be one with ambition. He will not hesitate to kill."

"More reason for you to—"

Nyssa groaned, cutting Sara off. She had already wasted too much time in this endeavor, and continuing this debate was risking her sister's life. "Very well. But your priority is Lilian Tate, do you understand?"

Sara narrowed her eyes. "Why do you call her by her whole name, if she's your sister?"

Nyssa gave her a skeptical look, as if to question the wisdom of discussing that matter at that very moment.

Sara acquiesced. She watched as Nyssa turned to peek out into the hallway to check if the coast was clear. "Hey."

Nyssa turned back to her, and was met with Sara's lips upon her own.

Talia could wait a little longer, she supposed.

When they broke the kiss, Nyssa blinked and searched Sara's eyes for an explanation. "Why–"

"It's not a fight until we make up." Sara said simply, before giving her another quick kiss. "Good hunting, habibti."

Nyssa blinked, and recognized something in Sara's gaze that she had sorely missed. "You remember."

"You want to talk about this now?" Sara retorted, but her cheeky grin was enough of an answer.

Nyssa wondered if Sara Lance would ever stop intriguing her.

But first she had to rescue her sister.


	8. Proxy Fight

Contrary to what Oliver believed, she didn't hate him. Really. She considered him a pain in the ass and a bossy know-it-all, especially lately, but that was just older brothers for you, and a major hypocrisy on his part, because up until he got stuck on that island, he'd been a useless piece of nothing that their dad had to drag onto the boat just to have a heart-to-heart and serious talking-to.

It sucked that he'd been stupid enough to make Sara Lance come along, and she'd been stupid enough to take him up on that offer, but you get what you pay for, she supposed, because their families were a wreck now, and at least the Lances were slowly rebuilding, if ever so slowly.

And she had Nyssa acting in her best interests. And Nyssa's sister was making her richer.

She hadn't been so sure about Talia — or, as she knew her, Lilian Tate — but Nyssa had sworn that she could be trusted, at the very least, not to kill people she cared about, and if there was anyone in the world right now whose advice Thea would willingly follow, it was the only other person in the world who questioned Oliver's choices and wanted Malcolm Merlyn dead as much as she did.

Swearing her allegiance to Nyssa, the Demon's Head, was more than just for protection or to piss off Oliver: Thea felt a kinship with Nyssa that she didn't with anyone in Oliver's circle, and at least Nyssa didn't just see her as Oliver's younger sister, but an individual and a fighter in her own right. And over their training period, Nyssa had become an older sister the way Laurel had once been, back when Laurel had been dating Oliver. Nyssa didn't always understand the need for unnecessary rebellion, but she could understand why one might feel compelled to break away from expectation, or the urge to just break free.

And the rage. Nyssa had once told her that her own father had once told her that her blind impulse and emotional ties were a weakness, that such uncontrollable rage would be her downfall. Maybe Nyssa had never been placed withing a Lazarus Pit, but Nyssa understood that rage and the focus necessary to prevent it from controlling all her actions and reactions.

And there was also the part that Nyssa, like herself, was alone in a sea of familiar faces.

But then Sara had come back. Thea avoided Sara as much as she could, because Nyssa's pain and suffering the previous year had all been caused because Thea had chosen to trust Malcolm Merlyn when she had known better, and she wasn't sure how much Sara remembered, or how Nyssa would react with Sara not remembering her, when all of it could have been avoided if Thea had just _known better_. And then Sara had found out about Nyssa's ties to the League of Assassins, the rap sheet that if printed could have wiped out an entire forest reservation, and Nyssa had stayed away from Starling City as a result of the obvious distrust that came with the revelation.

Not that Thea had wanted anything bad to happen to Talia, but at least her abduction had gotten Nyssa back into Starling.

And, direct orders or not, but Thea wasn't just going to let Nyssa walk into the fight with just her assassins by her side. Those assholes had let Oliver take the mantle of Heir to the Demon from Nyssa, and had sat by while under the leadership of Malcolm Merlyn.

So maybe Laurel would try to beat her up once she realized Thea wasn't where she was supposed to be (Verdant), but Thea had wanted Laurel out of this particular event, predicting how bad it was probably going to get, and Thea had Nyssa's back, when nobody else seemed to.

With Lyla right behind her, they raced up to the cargo ship past the unconscious bodies out on the outer decks (courtesy of Oliver and Diggle), and through the blood-painted hallways.

Thea didn't bother checking the bodies inside the ship, knowing that if Nyssa and those higher in the Demon food chain had been by, no soul had been spared.

The captain's quarters had been ransacked, but bloodless, making Thea head to the obvious direction of the bridge of the ship. She tried not to wince at the bodies with severed limbs, admired those that had a single arrow to the heart — while also wincing, because damn she really should apologize to Sara for being a decent shot.

"You know it goes without saying that you can't ever tell anyone about Nyssa's sister." Thea told Lyla. "Or who the other Demon Head is."

"You just did."

"Yeah, because you've been hanging out with Ollie and he tends to miss things." Thea pointed out.

"I'd like to keep breathing." Was Lyla's response.

"Good. 'Cause, you know, you and Dig have a cute baby." Thea glanced over her shoulder at Lyla, and smiled grimly. "And Nyssa knows where you live."

Nothing more was said after that. Before they got to the bridge, however, they encountered Oliver and Diggle, walking from that direction, a disconcerted look on both their faces.

Oliver took hold of Thea's arm, and pulled her away, back to the direction where she'd come from. "Let's go."

Thea struggled, but he held firm. "Ollie—"

"What are you even doing here, Speedy? You were told to stay away."

"I don't leave my friends to go into suicide missions by themselves."

"She has the League."

"She's my friend."

Oliver's groan of frustration was her only response.

Lyla glanced at her husband. "What's in there?"

"Nyssa wasn't kidding about the wrath of The Demon." John said simply, leading her away in a far gentler and respectful manner than Oliver was doing to Thea.

"Sara?"

John shook his head.

Lyla nodded in acknowledgment and spared a glance over her shoulder in the direction of the bridge, shuddering at the mere thought of what could be there.

Laurel, in Black Canary garb, waited for them outside the shipyard, Nyssa's ninja assassins already starting clean up around her. They gave her a wide berth, probably more from the anger obviously resonating through her and not of the Canary Cry device that could make grown men cry. She marched up to Thea. "What were you thinking? Never mind. I know what you were thinking. Where is she?" She noticed Oliver, and John and Lyla, and her frown grew more pronounced. "Was Sara in there? Where is she?"

Before anyone could answer her, however, a hushed silence descended on the men around them, until one breathed out, ever-respectful:

"Ra's al Ghul."

They turned at the quick whispers of the men that surrounded them, and followed their gaze to the gangplank, where three figures stepped out of the ship. The men around them dropped to a knee, kneeling to the Demon's Head. Both of them.

And if Thea felt — but resisted — the urge to take a knee herself, it could only be attributed to the sight of Nyssa al Ghul, in full armor and weaponry, tainted with the blood of her enemies, while beside her, bruised and bloodied but with the resolve and strength that could only have come from being Daughter of the Demon, Talia al Ghul stood valiantly.

She could never kill for a living, but Thea could understand why people would swear to be of service to The Demon, if these were the figures they swore their lives to.

On Talia's other side, helping support her weight, was Sara Lance. No, Thea corrected herself, noticing the way Sara stood with the al Ghul sisters, how Talia trusted her to keep her upright: not Sara Lance. Ta'er Al-Asfer. The Canary.

Oliver must be pissed.

Behind them were a handful of Nyssa's assassins, not dressed in their robes or ninja gear, which told Thea that those people weren't the rank and file, they were probably the most dangerous members of Nyssa's league. Once they were on the ground, Nyssa turned to them, gave a quick order, and the group quickly dispersed.

Dismissed, after a successful job.

Thea hoped Oliver didn't cotton on to the fact that those very men were probably going to go off and kill some more people at a later time and date.

A town car waited nearby, and heading towards it, Talia turned to one of the cloaked assassins standing nearby as she and Nyssa passed. "Burn it down." The figure nodded, collecting a few other men as he passed on his way towards the boat. She paused at the open car door, turning to Sara. "Your assistance this night was appreciated, Yellow Bird. The League is in your debt." She glanced at Nyssa. "Forsake your safe house for the night, Nyssa. We have much to discuss."

Nyssa nodded, but once Talia had settled within the car, she cast a glance at Thea, with whom she shared a long-suffering eye roll. _Older siblings._ She motioned to both Thea and Laurel. "Speedy. Your obedience needs to be improved. Canary, your vigilance leaves much to be desired."

Thea was unapologetic, but Laurel gasped in protest.

Nyssa stepped closer to Laurel, placing her hand on the Black Canary's shoulder, in as much a comforting gesture as she could afford at the moment. "Please do not think this to be a reflection of your will, or of your strength. Your charge was merely more cunning than you expected." She tilted her head in Thea's direction. "She is to answer to your every whim until I deign her forgiven for her trespass against us both."

This time, Laurel grinned and Thea was sputtering in protest.

Nyssa turned to Sara. "You are welcome to join us."

"Nah. Spend time with 'Lilian'." Sara drew out Talia's assumed name, reminding Nyssa that Sara wasn't letting the fact that Nyssa had kept a secret as big as her sister from her Beloved, or that even now, she withheld Talia's name from her.

Nyssa smiled faintly. "I will see you soon?"

Sara nodded.

Nyssa got into the car, and once the door was closed, the car left the shipyard.

Once the car was well out of view, Oliver rounded on Sara. "You should have stopped her."

Laurel glanced confusedly at them, then at Thea, who only shook her head to inform her that worst-case scenario had been achieved with Lilian Tate's abductor.

Sara turned to face Oliver defiantly. "You had to know, deep down, that I wouldn't."

"He didn't have to be killed!"

"Did you really think he was going to be allowed to live?" Sara asked incredulously. "She told you herself, her sister's identity needs to be kept a secret. They dared to cross the League of Assassins, they went after the Head - even if they hadn't known exactly what Lilian Tate's ties were, they knew she was connected to them - and do you honestly believe he was going to be allowed to continue breathing?"

Oliver pointed at the ship. "There was no need to lose all those lives!"

"They abducted her sister!" Sara reminded. "'They're the League of _Assassins_ , what did you think was going to happen?"

"She tortured him!"

"He tortured her sister!" Sara shot back. "Or did you miss those knife wounds, Ollie? The burn marks? He barely had her for three days, and he'd inflicted that much damage. What do you think he would have done to her if Nyssa had taken a little longer?"

"She killed him anyway, what was the point of punishing him first?"

Sara gave him a look. "She was giving him a chance to regret his actions before he died."

"You can't be serious."

"Gee, Ollie, was she supposed to pretend to align herself with him and be friends after her sister was put to harm to force her hand?" Thea snarked, cutting into the argument.

Oliver cast her a wary glance. "Thea…"

"Hold on," Sara interjected, wanting to finally address the animosity between Thea and Oliver, especially when it came to Nyssa, but was cut off by John.

"Uh, guys?" Diggle interrupted, catching their attention. "Maybe we can bring this elsewhere. Something tells me Nyssa's people are going to use this ship to send a message. A very loud message."

Thea shot Oliver a dark look. "I'm out."

"Thea." Sara piped in, catching the girl's attention. "Unless I've been reading either of you wrong, you know Nyssa better than these guys do. I want to know what you know."

Thea looked at her, remembered her earlier thought while within the ship, and relented. Honesty was as good a start as any by way of apologizing.

Not that the discussion was forthcoming, once they were back at the Foundry. John and Lyla, who had the least amount of emotional investment in the discussion and had a daughter to send back to bed, left Felicity to deal with the Queen siblings and Lance sisters on her own.

Sara sat on one of the chairs at the computer panel, glancing from one fuming Queen sibling to the other, standing on opposite ends of the room. "Let me get this straight." She turned to Thea. "Malcolm Merlyn — your father — brainwashed you to kill me, so that the League of Assassins would come after you, and not him."

"As a distraction." Thea nodded.

"But you," Sara turned to Oliver, "prevented them from taking Merlyn, after Thea explicitly told Nyssa to take him down, because you thought she shouldn't have his blood on her hands."

"Yes." Oliver grit out.

"Because making sure he died for his actual crimes was worse than being forced to kill Sara without my own consent?" Thea snapped at her brother.

"Thea, shut up." Sara rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on. "Ollie. And you confronted Ra's, to defend Thea."

"Yes."

"But because Sarab's ex-wife saved you, Ra's thought you were the fulfillment of the prophecy of the one who would fight him and not die, and decided you would be Heir." Sara wished she could go and hug Nyssa, who'd had to live through all this over the past year without her. "So he stripped Nyssa of her title, and he killed Thea, but you took her to Nanda Parbat to bring her back to life."

"There's more to it than just—"

"And you went and married my girlfriend, after _trying to kill her_ , to prove your loyalty to her dad, and somewhere in all this Roy faked his death, my dad tried to arrest The Arrow, and my sister decided she'd go and beat up bad guys as a part-time hobby, and you let her, and after killing Ra's, instead of handing the League of Assassins to someone who holds true to its goals and ideals and not a mass murderer, you named _Malcolm Merlyn_ Head of the Demon."

"That shit cray, yo." Felicity piped in.

Sara gave her a look. "Don't get me started on your part in all this."

"And never say that again." Thea added.

Sara looked at her wryly. "Malcolm Merlyn, Thea? You thought you'd rebel against Ollie by trusting the guy who blackmailed your mom like a national past time?" She glanced over at Laurel, who had been quietly sitting by, reading Nyssa's ARGUS rap sheet. "You have anything to add to this?"

"I taught Nyssa to eat fries with her milkshake."

"You're a truly horrible person." Sara said blandly, and turned back to the Queen siblings. She turned to Thea. "You first. It wasn't your fault. The League called him The Magician for a reason. It sucks that your bio dad had me killed to strike Nyssa's nerve, but you thought you could trust your flesh and blood. Unless you have some kind of weird trigger or berserker button, we're good. Okay?"

Thea nodded, relieved.

"We'll hug later." Sara added. She smiled apologetically. "When I feel a little less stabby."

Thea smiled weakly. "Okay."

"And you're going to tell me exactly what you and Nyssa agreed on when you swore allegiance and she promised to protect you." Sara added. "You should know better than to just swear an oath to the League of Assassins, Thea."

"You see?" Oliver interposed. "They can't be in Star City."

Thea shot him a glare. "I can't believe you still don't get it, even after she threw you to the floor."

Laurel let out a small laugh, which she quickly coughed to cover up.

Oliver glanced wearily at her, before turning back to Thea. "Get what?"

"This isn't HQ, Ollie: It's not the new Nanda Parbat." Thea groaned in exasperation. "Nyssa drew attention here so nobody who knew about the League would question why there are two heads, and to scare anyone away from trying to go to a city that has the Arrow _and_ the League of Assassins."

"And to teach you a lesson." Laurel added. She glanced over at Oliver. "Sucks to be constantly one step behind, doesn't it?"

"Stop kicking him while he's down." Sara reprimanded her sister.

"But he's so pouty." Laurel protested. She motioned to the brooding Oliver. "Like a kid who isn't getting the joke."

Sara, as well as Felicity and Thea, glanced at the pouting Arrow. There was a collective murmur of agreement.

"She declared me an enemy of the League." Oliver reminded.

"To break your ties from them." Thea explained. Off Oliver's disbelieving look, she asked: "Did you think people didn't notice your extended playdate with Ra's last year? You were running around calling yourself Al Sah-him."

"So it was all a setup?" Felicity asked Laurel.

"It was a ruse," Laurel allowed. She glanced at Oliver. "You're right, the League has enemies. By declaring you one, she was giving you an out."

"She broke my hand!" Oliver protested. He blew out a frustrated huff. "And she rendered me paralyzed."

"Yeah." Laurel grinned, unable to stop smiling broadly at the reminder. "To show she had the upper hand. To everyone watching, she gave you the same deal she gave the Bratva, the Triad, and all the other goons that have been forced to lie low while the League's in town."

"What deal?" Felicity asked.

"That you can carry on as you do but keep civilians out of it." Laurel glanced over at Thea. "You know more about this than I do."

"Nyssa needed to distract everyone watching the League to focus on the superficial." Thea filled in. Nyssa had had to explain the whole thing while they had been in the bunker. "She knew the whole thing with Malcolm got them on the radar, and," she turned to Oliver. "Look, Ra's was an ass, and not that I'm not grateful you put an end to his special brand of evil, but Nyssa deserved better than what you did, Ollie. That's why when it comes down to the two of you, I can't say I'm on your side. But you put a spotlight where it didn't need to, and when Nyssa took Malcolm down, she needed to put in a series of events that would throw off anyone watching from figuring out all the fine details."

"She put a target on Starling." Oliver argued.

"Actually, no." Thea shook her head. "You did that. But now it's been heavily implied that the League of Assassins are willing to work with The Arrow."

"I don't get it." Felicity admitted.

"Nobody's going to try and pit the League and the Arrow against each other." Sara filled in for her. She couldn't really believe it, but Nyssa had found a way to broker a truce without actually having to do it. But right now, she needed to get something off her chest: Sara turned to Oliver. "Are you proud of yourself?"

Oliver balked. "What?"

"You took away your sister's right to choose for herself, her right to regain some agency, of wanting dead the man who forced her to kill someone she knew and called a friend, because you thought you knew what she wanted better than she did." Sara reminded. "You betrayed your friends. You set them all up to make choices they probably wouldn't have otherwise because you thought you knew better than everyone else. Don't get me started on what you did to Nyssa. And on top of all of that, you _helped_ a mass murderer _who orchestrated my death_ , Ollie. Is that the guy you want to be?"

"Sara…"

Sara shook her head, and stood up. "You know what? I don't know who brought me back, the why or how, but I know why I want to be, and it's not to rehash the past year with you guys. I should have gotten into that car earlier."


	9. Assumption of Risk

The upside, she supposed, of having the technology and wealth of Lilian Tate, was that when Sara made the call, a town car came to pick her up.

Nyssa had always been a glutton for the lap of luxury, and it wasn't surprising that the suite her sister had her staying in was as opulent as the rooms Nyssa tried to book them when they would go out on assignment.

An extended shared shower later — that was only about sixty percent washing off all the blood from Nyssa's skin, they ended up in bed together, which was about as diametrically opposite of what Nyssa had predicted would happen at the end of the night as possible, considering she and Sara hadn't spoken in weeks and Sara had reacted quite negatively to the revelation that Nyssa belonged to the League of Assassins. Ending up tangled with each other in bed, however, was typical of them from their days together in the League, when they either needed to burn off excess energy from a task, or when one or the other would need comforting from a job that stretched the ethics of what they did. For the moment, however, they were content in merely being together, basking in the silence of once again finding each other.

It was in those quiet moments, Sara remembered, that she learned about Nyssa, beyond her just being Heir to the Demon. How Nyssa made quiet promises of commitment to a pleased Sara, her Ta'er al-Asfer, who had never had a relationship that lasted beyond two weeks. How Sara learned that Nyssa had spent most of her years growing up without a caring touch beyond a pat on the head or shoulder, how she remembers being hugged by her mother but had forgotten what it had felt. It had taken everything in Nyssa to let Sara in, to allow her touch, to be a part of her life.

And everything just kept taking Sara away.

But for the moment, at least for now, Nyssa could bask in Sara's presence, her scent, her touch, and marvel at the fact that after a night of slaughter, of taking vengeance against those who had dared to abduct and harm her sister, she could still be held in warm and loving arms, and pretend that everything was fine. That her time with Sara was not already counting down.

At the moment, however, Sara found herself under the careful scrutiny of the Heir to the Demon.

Scratch that.

"So you're the new Ra's al Ghul, huh?" Sara asked, running her hand through Nyssa's damp hair, hoping to distract the dark-haired woman from her study.

Nyssa groaned, buried her face into the crook where Sara's neck met her shoulder, and only grunted in reply.

Sara turned slightly to kiss the side of Nyssa's head affectionately. "Thanks for killing the douchebag who had me killed."

"I vowed I would."

"Speaking of vows…"

"Do not." Nyssa said in warning.

"You and Ollie."

Nyssa scoffed in derision.

Sara laughed softly. "You two would make excellent markschildren."

Another scoff.

"With excellent taste in blondes."

A pause, followed by a soft murmur of assent.

"So does that make me and Felicity your mistresses…? Is this a poly thing, because we could ask Felicity if she's up for it."

Nyssa lifted her head, and gazed upon Sara. "As much as I admire Felicity Smoak, I have no intention of sharing you, habibti."

Yeah. As much as Sara had fantasized threesomes with her, Nyssa and various other third parties, she never really gave serious thought to having those fantasies realized, because Sara had always had a problem with sharing.

Sara gently caressed the side of Nyssa's face before urging her to lean close for a kiss. When they parted, Sara's gaze flickered over Nyssa's face, checking for changes that were evidence of the events that had occurred in the past year. "They told me about your year."

Nyssa sighed, lowering her gaze, focusing on Sara's collar, her hand drifting to where Laurel had told her the arrows had struck. "I should have been with you."

Sara used her free hand to capture Nyssa's, over her heart. "I'm here now."

Nyssa's gaze flickered up, but returned lower. "You should not have been hurt, if not for our relationship."

Sara shook her head. "It's not your fault. And I'm sorry you went through all that alone."

Nyssa sighed heavily, finally looking up and holding Sara's gaze. "I should have told you I loved you."

"Yeah. You should have." Sara quipped, smiling faintly. "But I knew."

"How could you have, when you accused me of fearing I had stopped."

Sara didn't know, couldn't pinpoint an exact reason to justify her belief, but she remembered how, even as she had told Nyssa she was afraid that one day Nyssa would tell her she had stopped loving her back, she had known it wasn't true. That it never could be true. It had changed, true, the way they had acted and treated each other over that year, of running away and hurting each other and finally admitting they were better together had forever altered the purity and innocence of their relationship. They had fallen hard and fast for each other, their love the one pure and innocent thing in their otherwise dark lives, and that had ended. What came out of their year apart had been an entanglement that defied their roles as Warith al Ghul and Ta'er Al-Asfer, as Heir to the Demon and The Canary. Nyssa could avoid saying it back, but she could never not acknowledge it, and Sara would never grow tired of reminding Nyssa.

Sara traced Nyssa's features with her fingertips in a gentle caress. "So, Half of the Demon. You gonna tell me why you never told me you had a sister?"

Nyssa gave a good-natured sigh, and fell back to lie against Sara, the adrenaline that had coursed through her throughout the night on the cargo ship having drained away with the blood she had washed away in the shower. "To tell you would have been to paint an even bigger target upon yourself, and I had been sworn to secrecy. Talia is the Demon's secret."

"Talia." Sara repeated the name.

"She is older. I don't know if Father loved her mother as he had mine, but they were wed, although he did not bring them, or her, to Nanda Parbat." Nyssa turned to settle her weight more on the bed and to Sara's side instead of directly on top of her, and resettled her head against Sara's shoulder, returning her hand to its earlier place over Sara's heart. Sara quickly captured that hand, their fingers playing together idly. "She had always been groomed to be in charge of the shell companies, the legitimate assets of the Demon."

"But she did quick work killing that guy who held her earlier."

Nyssa closed her eyes at the recollection of the henchman who had grabbed Talia while Nyssa had been giving the ringleader an up-close-and-personal anatomy lesson of his spleen, who had somehow escaped both hers and Sara's notice, but Talia had not been Daughter of the Demon by name alone.

"She was still taught by our father." Nyssa informed her.

"Maybe I missed the memo, but what did guy want from you anyway? Why go after the League of Assassins? Why Talia?"

"Control of Starling City." Nyssa said simply.

Sara scoffed. "Like Ollie'd let that happen."

"The Arrow is no longer the most threatening presence in Starling, Ta'er al-Asfer." Nyssa reminded gently.

Sara paused, and frowned. "That's… Was that your point?"

"It was an unintended consequence."

Sara rolled her eyes. "You did this to piss off Ollie."

"He meddles." Nyssa said simply in defense. "It seemed apt he should learn how it feels when done to him."

"And Talia signed off on it?"

"She finds his business practices lacking." Nyssa answered. "And the acquisition of Queen Consolidated was too tempting an addition to her portfolio as Lilian Tate to let pass."

"Oh no." Sara groaned. "She's just as crazy as you are."

"It would explain why she lets you live, and how you are in my bed."

With her free hand, Sara playfully hit her in the shoulder. "Shut up. You know you find me hot as hell."

"Hopefully that is not why Talia allows you to live." That earned Nyssa another smack on the shoulder.

"You guys seem close." Sara noted in a change of discussion tactics.

"We have not always been."

Sara paused, considering that, and guessed: "Because of the Heir thing?"

Nyssa nodded. "The nature of our birth and upbringing caused us to be at odds through most our lives. But we share the belief that only blood can be Head of the Demon."

Sara smiled wryly. "And that trick of cutting her ropes with an arrow?"

"The few games we would pass time together."

"What if you'd missed?"

Nyssa scoffed.

Sara rolled her eyes at the arrogance, but then again, who was she to argue? She'd seen Nyssa cut ropes and ties while on a moving vehicle, on rugged terrain, with her target a good distance away. "She knows about me."

"You were to be her chess piece against me, if we ever had to battle for the right to be Demon's Head." Nyssa sighed. "Everybody knows you are the chess piece that would cause me to concede."

"I'm a weakness." Sara observed.

"You are my strength." Nyssa corrected. "When you are gone…"

And that belief had been proven, again and again, and Nyssa still could not learn that lesson. Would not learn it. Refused to learn it.

Nyssa rolled her head to rest her chin on Sara's breastbone, gazing at the blonde pensively. "When did you start to remember?"

Sara exhaled. "After the you showed up at the Foundry? Since I came back I've had these flashes of memory, and nightmares that sometimes seem real. I couldn't figure out which were real memories and what are just figments of my mind. After the last time we talked, when you'd left, they've been more vivid, and I'd miss you, and I'd remember these details about you, things you didn't tell me, and I'd realize those were things I already _knew_. I started piecing things together, and there are still some blanks, but I've started understanding some looks you'd have when I did or said something."

"I see." Nyssa said, before returning to her previous position against Sara's shoulder, returning her attention to their hands. "Does your sister know?"

"I didn't tell them, but I think she suspects as much." Sara admitted.

"Why not tell them?" Nyssa queried, although secretly pleased that she was the only one Sara shared the recovery of her memories with.

"I don't know." Sara shrugged. "Something to keep to myself? The fact that Ollie keeps making a big deal about you being in the League of Assassins like I'm not and he's a hypocrite?"

"Does it bother you? Knowing? That you weren't told beforehand?"

"I don't know. But would you ever have told me? About the League, and your sister, and being Demon's Head?" Sara asked quietly, glancing down at their entwined hands, smiling softly at the ever-gentle way Nyssa touched her. "What if I had never remembered?"

"I would have told you." Nyssa reluctantly, hesitantly, admitted.

"When?"

"When the time came?"

"Nyssa."

"What would you have me say, Sara?" Nyssa questioned. "I thought I had lost you. You return, but I am a gap in your memory. I would have given anything for a second, perhaps third chance, and when presented with it, how could I endanger it, knowing my honesty would have made you turn from me?"

"You didn't have to stay away."

"I couldn't face you." Nyssa replied, tangling their fingers together and drawing their entwined hands to her lips, placing a kiss to the inside of Sara's wrist. It was a delicate action that hearkened to their past, when Nyssa would do the same to remind Sara that despite their actions, despite the fact that those very hands could kill, Nyssa still loved her just the same. It was a comfort, a reminder. A familiar and intimate gesture. "I had been called to attend to one who tried to abandon his post and break his oath to the League, be the very thing you feared me to be."

"You were gone for over a month."

"He had accomplices." Nyssa said simply.

Sara freed her hand from Nyssa's hold, drifting through Nyssa's hair to rub at the back of the brunette's neck. "Would you have ever come back?"

Nyssa didn't answer.

Sara gently tugged Nyssa's hair back to tilt Nyssa's face up so their gazes would meet. "If Talia hadn't been taken, would you have come back?"

"Inevitably."

Sara groaned. "Nyssa."

"Talia has started the clock, winding down our time in Starling. We have established what we intended to do here." Nyssa said softly. "The city is safe, the Glades is in recovery. The local economy is on the incline. After tonight nobody will ever doubt the might of the League of Assassins in Starling City. Soon it will be time for us to leave."

"Leave." Sara repeated dully. Her lips pulled into a frown. "You're leaving?"

"This is not Talia's home. And every day is a struggle not to put Oliver Queen in a coma."

Sara tried to hold back her bark of laughter, but it came out anyway, because she remembered Nyssa telling the amnesiac version of Sara that she loathed Oliver, and wow had that been an understatement. But Sara also knew that despite her objections, the fact that Oliver had previously seen her naked and had shared her bed were probably reason enough for Nyssa to deliver a new round of that paralytic toxin that had rendered Oliver useless. And after everything she'd learned about the past year? She might even render Oliver into a coma herself.

Then she remembered the way Nyssa had single-handedly thrown Oliver to the floor, and had to ask: "You gonna tell me when you took a dip in your magic hot tub?"

Nyssa groaned. "For the last time, do not call the Lazarus Pit—"

"When, Nyssa?" Sara's sharp tone brooked no argument or avoidance, and Nyssa sighed.

"I did not."

"Then how-"

"He is not as formidable as he deems himself to be. And I am not some wilting flower." Nyssa said scathingly. "To prove him weak does not require superhuman abilities."

"Touchy subject?" Sara guessed.

"He annoys me."

Sara relented, conceding that point, but as she ran her hand down Nyssa's bare back, she felt an unfamiliar scar, about two inches wide, and roughly sewn. "This is new."

Nyssa noticeably stiffened.

"Who literally stabbed you in the back, Nyssa?"

"It is nothing. And it is important to note that I did not die."

"Who, Nyssa."

Nyssa voice came out slightly strangled, reluctant to provide the information but unable to deny Sara answers. "Talia."

"I'll kill her."

"You will try." Nyssa acquiesced. Then again, given Sara's resurrection, the means of which they were still not certain of, there was a possibility of Sara's victory. Certainly, if Sara had been brought back by way of a powerful Lazarus Pit, there was no telling what added physical ability she could have gained. "But it's not her fault. We were sparring."

Sara glared at her. " _In the back_ , Nyssa. Explain. Quickly."

"You had returned, and we could not figure out how, or why. It was a distraction I am not afforded, and one Talia decided unnecessary. I lacked the focus necessary to rule as Head of the Demon. Understand, I had defeated Al Sah-Her; I had fulfilled my promise to avenge your death. There was little else I wished to accomplish." Nyssa exhaled. "Talia thought with your return, despite or perhaps _because_ of your lack of memory of me or the League, I would no longer be interested in being Head; she henceforth also suggested you would need to fulfill your obligations with the League. We argued."

"And?"

"And Talia is better than I with a sword, and when one's head is not entirely at the task at hand…"

"At the back?"

"We are not to give our opponents any quarter, Sara. And show no mercy."

Sara closed her eyes to quell the anger she had, at both Talia and Nyssa, because she really shouldn't be surprised that Ra's children handled matters of any kind with sharp pointy objects. She opened her eyes and took a moment, studying Nyssa, at the pensive and subdued expression on the darker woman's face, and her heart ached for this woman whose entire life had been upended with a year; who looked so exhausted but refused to sleep, content to stay awake with Sara.

"Where will you go?" Sara asked, opting to address their previous point of discussion. "Because honey, I am telling you, Nanda Parbat's smoking ruins doesn't look like an ideal place to settle in."

"I will likely be traveling." Nyssa shrugged. "See which of our safe houses have been compromised and under surveillance. Set up new bases. Destroy old ones."

Sara exhaled. So it was time for that conversation, then. "Am I going to be a girl expecting a phone call that isn't going to come?"

Nyssa lifted herself up to rest on one elbow, looking down at Sara. "I would never ask you to swear your oath again…"

"Isn't the League of Assassins blood-in, blood-out?" Sara asked wryly.

"I meant what I said, when I said I would choose to stay by your side, if a choice were to be made."

"But you've made your choices a long time ago." Sara reminded, using Nyssa's own words from before.

"Being born to the demon was not a choice." Nyssa averted her gaze, remembering her father's words. "For me, or my mother."

Sara frowned, not aware of the meaning behind those words. She knew the old Ra's had been resentful that Nyssa hadn't been born a boy, but she'd always assumed, despite the concubinage, that he had at least harbored affection for Nyssa's mother. And that Nyssa had been born out of that affection. "Nyssa…"

"I released you from your oath. I will hold true, if that's what you want."

"What I want." Sara repeated. "What do you want, Nyssa?"

"I want you alive." Nyssa said simply. "I want you breathing. I want you safe, happy."

And happiness was not something afforded to those in service to the Demon. Especially his daughter. That had been a tenet drilled into Nyssa, Sara had always assumed at the sharp end of a sword, until Nyssa just assumed it to be true. Even before, back when they had been in their little love-filled innocent bubble, at their happiest moments, that belief always managed to worm its way in, reminding Nyssa that whatever happiness she found in Sara would be fleeting. Temporary.

And one day Sara had fled Nanda Parbat for Starling City.

But she'd gone back, she had returned to Nanda Parbat, to the League, _to Nyssa_.

Sara narrowed her eyes. "Then what is this?" She motioned to the two of them, pressed together on Nyssa's bed. "You're just gonna leave me?"

"I am Demon's Head. What kind of life do you think you would have, being loved by the Head of the Demon?"

"We won't have to sneak around behind your father's back, that's for sure." Sara retorted.

"Sara, be serious."

"I am." Sara replied. She shook her head, her incredulity tipping towards anger and seeping into her tone. "Did you think I joined the League because if I had to kill people, I figured I should unionize? Or that I was with the League for the frequent flyer miles? Did you think I was with you so I could pick and choose my missions? I loved you. I wanted to be where you were. I wanted to _be_ with you. You made me happy."

Nyssa looked away, hearing again, and not being able to focus on anything else, but the past tense of Sara's statement. And said the same words from when she'd heard them last. "But not anymore."

"Hey." Sara said sharply, taking her face into her hands and forcing Nyssa to look at her. Their gazes met, and held. "Still. Always."

"But—"

"But nothing." Sara shook her head. "Someone… Something brought me back, and you were a blank space. And I still wanted to be with you. I learned about your darkest deeds and what hurt most was that I didn't even get an explanation, or even a goodbye. My friends were making fucked up decisions, left and right, over the past year — my sister had decided she wanted to get beat up while fighting crime as a past time — and all I could think of, all I could focus on, was I wanted to hold you close and never let go. That's… I don't know what that is, but that's not in the past."

Nyssa gazed into her eyes for a beat longer, as if searching for the truth there, until finally she took a deep breath."We need to discuss that."

Sara frowned, because: "I kinda just said a lot of things, Nyssa."

"We still don't know who brought you back. Or why." Nyssa reminded. "You could be in grave danger."

"Then I guess it's lucky my girlfriend's a trick shot?"

"Sara."

"I know, I know. 'Danger, Will Robinson.' But aren't we always kind of in some kind of danger, anyway?" Sara asked. "You know as well as I do my symptoms point to Lazarus Pit, and with your dad gone, aren't you the leading expert on Lazarus Pits nowadays?"

"Clearly there is another, if they were able to bring you back without mine or Talia's knowledge."

Sara took a deep breath, and sighed in exhaustion. "Then wouldn't it be safer for me to be with you, who can actually take me down if you have to, than be here and destroy everyone I care about, if it turns out I _do_ have some kind of berserker button?"

Nyssa had no idea what a berserker button was, but she could take context clues. However: "I might not fulfill my end of that agreement, Sara."

Sara gazed at her. "I want to be with you, Nyssa. And, yeah, this could end horribly, but I have faith that when the time comes, you can do what you need to."

Nyssa lowered her gaze, the deep sigh she exhaled resonating with the weight of the world on her shoulders. "Sara."

Sara braced herself, readying for the next round, because Nyssa had always been one stubborn woman. "What?"

Nyssa looked up, and gazed at Sara for a long moment, forcing the blonde to merely look back, trying to gauge what was going through the older woman's mind. Finally, Nyssa's gaze softened in concession, and she quirked her lips into a faint smile. "I am homeless and rely on my sister for financing. What would your parents say?"

Sara gave her own wry smile back at her. "Hey, you're your own boss, right? And is it really homeless if you're a permanent tourist? That's still a thing, right?"

"Your father would not be pleased. And your mother would disapprove."

"My mother probably still hates you for holding her hostage."

"Lances and their grudges."

Sara murmured her agreement. "It's always going to be something."

This time, their shared kiss was light, but fixing something that they hadn't realized had been broken between them. Sara pulled Nyssa closer, forcing Nyssa to rest her weight on her elbows at either side of Sara's head, careful not to crush the woman underneath, while Sara found Nyssa to be a comforting weight, her body providing warmth and comfort no blanket could ever compare to.

Sara broke the kiss first, but Nyssa only moved lower to trail a line of kisses on her jaw. "Does Talia have rules on having sex in her guest room?"

"She would not have had her driver get you if she thought we were going to stay up all night having tea."

"I wouldn't want to piss off the scarier half of the Head of the Demon."

Nyssa paused her assault on Sara's neck, and pulled back with a frown. "You think she's more terrifying?"

"I think she wouldn't hesitate to drive a sword through me if she thought my moans of pleasure kept her up at night." Sara said flatly.

Nyssa paused, and nodded at the truth of it. Talia did have a low tolerance for anyone having fun on her expense. To assuage Sara's reservations, she replied: "She's in another suite, and these walls are quite thick. I also believe she'd taken some hydrocodone, despite being synthetic and thus inferior to actual opium poppy, which-"

"Shhh." Sara cut her off, grinning. "So she's out for the night? Good."

"Honestly, habibti," Nyssa muttered, opting not to be too offended by being interrupted, instead returning to her earlier task of attending to Sara's neck, while her hands drifted to more erogenous locations, "moans of pleasure? You forget how loud you become."

Sara didn't even have it in her to be offended, not when she later proved Nyssa right.


	10. A Fortiori

A/N: (ETA) I guess it hasn't yet been made evident (upon reading a recent comment, and realizing I've only ever explained this in the writing blog), but while I am aware that in DC canon Nyssa is older, I've decided to exercise artistic license to make her younger in this story because of two reasons: 1) she (and the rest of the League) is far likelier to respect and allow Talia, a previously-invisible League entity, leeway if Nyssa was younger, and 2) this story wouldn't even exist without Nerdgirlwalking's stories (which is a far better read than this, so go read them on AO3. _go_.), and so her canon took over mine, and takes precedence over DC.

Thank you for coming along and reading this method of post-Season 3 catharsis.

* * *

Talia al Ghul had been born into wealth, if not quite luxury, and had been taught from an early age that she was destined for greatness. Her mother had told her about her absent father, who had Very Important Things to do, but that he expected her to follow in his footsteps and be as great and important as he was. She had always been Talia, even as she went to boarding schools and went about her life as Lilian Tate, but she remembered her mother's voice, reminding her she was _Talia al Ghul_ , daughter of Ra's al Ghul, his firstborn.

Talia didn't learn until she was nine exactly what that meant, but when she met the man, she learned she was Daughter of the Demon, that being Daughter was going to be a very important part of her life. She learned it even as she met a young girl who stood behind her father, a filthy, scrawny, mess of a thing, who the men around her father allowed to play with their swords and weapons, who wrestled with the young men and women her father called trainees – and won – and lifted her chin after every victory as if it had been an inevitability.

Talia noticed the way the young girl's gaze would cut to her father, earning a small nod, but was always followed with a critique of her fighting style: too many strikes, the fight took far too long, the other man had gotten an unnecessary punch in, her stance was defensive, the style sloppy. The thing, it turned out, was Ra's al Ghul's other daughter. Born of a concubine, a woman he had met in the desert.

That year they went on vacation, just them with their father… and with a few of their father's most trusted men and women, who… 'looked after' the two young girls.

Talia should have known the races, the obstacles, the training sessions of martial arts and weaponry, had all been tests. The chess games to pass the time at night? A test. The board games, the card games, the dare to jump off the boat in the middle of the lake at night? Tests.

Talia, having expected a quiet vacation, questioned the reasons for the training sessions, why they needed to endure such punishing tasks when there were books to be read and horses to ride. She hadn't taken to the weaponry so much, except for the swords, which required just a little getting used to and some minor adjustment, but it was just like fencing. The other girl, however, did everything they were told to, with a fierce determination to complete each task, and the seeming-natural ability with weapons shouldn't have been a surprise.

Then she heard it, what they started to call the young girl – Nyssa, her name was Nyssa – in hushed whispers _._ What they called _Nyssa_. _Warith al Ghul._ Heir to the Demon.

It had taken years for Talia to realize that Nyssa hadn't bested her in those tests because she'd been aware of their nature. Nyssa had succeeded in beating out anyone she faced in those games because she'd had no other choice.

Nyssa Raatko was the illegitimate child of Ra's al Ghul. Ra's had wanted a male child, but she'd been born instead. Since her mother died and as she was raised in Nanda Parbat, Nyssa had had no choice but to be the child Ra's wanted in an heir. She fought, and trained, and followed every word her father taught her, because there was no alternative. And at six years old, as if her position in life hadn't been precarious enough, she had met Ra's eldest child, a daughter borne out of a legal marital union, and their meeting, seemingly innocuous, had been fraught with meaning, at least to the younger girl.

This was the true heir to Ra's al Ghul. Talia may not have been a child of Nanda Parbat, may not yet be familiar with the rules of the Demon, but she would be.

Unless Nyssa proved herself. Nyssa had to be better. Worthy.

Nyssa had to stop being Nyssa Raatko and earn the name Nyssa al Ghul.

Sometimes Talia wondered if she'd gotten the better deal, not being named Heir but being considered the true child of their father. Talia had gone to school, had an actual upbringing, had been out in the world and earning her place in it. She had been given the responsibility of managing the Demon's legitimate assets, all while having a normal life.

But then Nyssa got their father's attention. Nyssa had been loved by her mother, and since their father allowed her to keep the name Raatko, Talia could only assume he had loved mother and child, too, if in his own way. Nyssa had the training, had learned at the foot of their father, stood by his side. The men and women of the League recognized her as Heir to the Demon, while nobody except those in Ra's inner circle had known of Talia's existence.

And despite her upbringing, isolated in Nanda Parbat and inculcated with the belief that those who served the Demon would never have happiness, Nyssa had found herself a little wisp of a thing, the League's very own Canary, who loved her despite all the flaws that Ra's would have preferred eradicated. Or maybe Ta'er al-Asfer loved Nyssa _because of_ those flaws, Talia wasn't sure, she had never witnessed the relationship firsthand until Starling City, that particular night on the ship, when a blond thing with questionable outfit choices for a deadly attack followed Nyssa into the control deck and subdued the men who dared interrupt Nyssa's vengeance on the man who had dared to lay a hand on her sister.

Since then she had gotten to observe the relationship, the way Sara Lance could be the calming force in Nyssa's ever-simmering pot of emotions, the way their very movements were complementary and in synchrony with each other. There was a calm to Nyssa that Talia had never witnessed in her sister, definitely not since she had killed The Magician and called upon her sister to become Demon's Head with her.

And witnessing it made Talia understand, then, why their father had never quite been certain that Nyssa could be Demon's Head successfully. She had been born of overwhelming emotion and reckless behavior, and she personified those things against her better judgment. True, Nyssa could keep her emotions under control, and focus on the task at hand, but her feelings were always simmering under the surface, and when it boiled over, it was hard to predict how Nyssa would react. And Sara Lance made too many of Nyssa's emotions come to the fore. Emotions had no place in being Demon's Head, in even serving the Demon, but Nyssa was too taken by Sara Lance to acknowledge the truth in those tenets. When it came down to it, as Nyssa had told her those weeks ago before she had gone to attend to a member who had failed his mission, if it came down to a choice, Nyssa would still and always choose what was best for Sara Lance, what kept the Canary safe, even if it came in conflict with the laws of the League.

Over two years ago, Talia had gone to Nanda Parbat a week after Nyssa had released Ta'er al-Asfar from her oath, and had seen the bruises and wounds on her. Talia had marvelled at how Nyssa could choose punishment by the Demon's Head's hand over upholding the laws of the League of Assassins against one Canary, as well as wondering how Nyssa could even be able to manage to walk and move normally.

And remembered that Nyssa didn't have a choice.

Suffering is an option, their father had once taught them.

Talia could always leave, go home and ease her pain away from her father's scrutiny. Nyssa had never had that choice.

Talia remembered having a member of the League deliver her the message that their father was dead, and had been replaced by The Magician. She knew the politics involved, of course, knew that Nyssa would not stand to answer to the man who had killed her Canary, and had waited for word on what would happen next, wondering if Al Sa-Her knew of her existence. She got her answer just a few weeks later, a message from her sister telling her that matters were being dealt with, that the next messenger would inform her if she needed to return to Nanda Parbat. The next messenger never came; instead Nyssa had personally sought her out, telling her that The Magician was dead and she was Demon's Head, but that given the events of the past year, she doubted she could fulfill the role as she once believed she would. There were loose ends that needed tying, she'd said.

Talia had never really given her sister much credit as a tactician, still seeing in Nyssa the girl who'd had no patience for chess. Talia remembered, a few years after that forsaken vacation, and after Nyssa had yet again been on the receiving end of a lecture on controlling her emotions, they had been playing chess, and Talia beat Nyssa for six straight games before she berated the younger girl. She would have been happy over her apparent victory, except several times during the game, she had seen obvious moves that Nyssa could have done to win, all sacrificing the queen, but were not taken.

 _"If you refuse to pose a challenge, I can play this on my own." Talia had picked up Nyssa's queen and slammed it back onto the board. "All these pieces are played in service of the king; the queen must be sacrificed so the king will live, Nyssa. Your reticence to do what is necessary is why you always lose."_

Talia would live to regret that exclamation, because Nyssa never gave her a chance to win ever again. Not that she was a better tactician, mind you, just that Nyssa was reckless and wild with her choice of movements that it was always hard to predict. And, as if merely to spite Talia, Nyssa made it a point to never sacrifice her queen if she could help it.

In retrospect Talia could acknowledge that Nyssa's knowledge of Oliver Queen, his knowledge and tactics, how he acted and how he _re_ acted, had all served their purpose in Starling City. It had not just been meant as a staging ground for the inauguration of the League of Assassins under Nyssa's leadership, but a way to get under Oliver Queen's skin, their own kind of revenge for the heedlessness of his own actions against the League months prior. She couldn't say for certain if he had actually learned the lessons she and Nyssa had wanted to impart upon him, but at least he had known to walk away when Nyssa started killing the people who had held Talia hostage in that boat.

And she had no doubt, after the episode with the temporary paralysis, that he would never underestimate Nyssa again. Even Talia had been impressed at how easily Nyssa had broken The Arrow's wrist.

(Yes, she had a computer expert at her disposal who had accessed the security feed from the building nearby when Nyssa had subdued Oliver Queen. If Talia were the kind of person who found humor in things, it would even have been funny. She only wished she had access to the secret location of The Arrow and his team, as she knew the after-effects of the paralytic was a sight to behold.)

But it had been months since her takeover of Queen Consolidated, and Lilian Tate's base of business had never been meant to be Starling City. She had put people she trusted in control of both the Merlyn Global Group and Queen Consolidated, and even some League members had been planted in different departments to keep their eyes and ears on the goings-on at all levels of either corporation.

The League's operations in Starling City would continue, Nyssa had placed one of her most trusted men to keep watch and ensure they did not run into conflict with the law, and especially with The Arrow and his friends, even if, as Nyssa and Talia agreed, it was immensely tempting to hit Oliver Queen's face.

And as interesting as it had been, spending the past few months in close quarters with Nyssa, conceiving their plan to subtly take over Starling and establishing their leadership of the League of Assassins, they both acknowledged that they had always been better as separate and independent individuals, even if they were both Demon's Head. Talia would continue to spearhead the corporate and industrial dealings of The Demon, and Nyssa would continue the work as Ra's al Ghul to the League.

By agreement, they had a predetermined date and time to get in touch with each other, to ensure the other still lived, and to agree on matters tied to the League.

Before she could leave Starling City, however, Lilian Tate had to make one last public appearance, opening a community center in the part of the city called the Glades, one last major contribution to help a city that had been abused and exploited for so long. Lilian Tate smiled and had her picture taken and held babies (there was a daycare), and the population of Starling City gave her their thanks and gratitude for all the help she and her company had given their city.

"I cannot believe the mayor gave you a key to the city." Nyssa noted when Talia entered her town car, apparently having been waiting for her sister, once the pomp and circumstance was done, safely hidden from anyone's view within the privacy of the car's tinted windows.

If Talia was surprised to see her sister in her heretofore locked car, she didn't show it as she tossed the velvet box at her in a careless gesture. "I don't imagine I'll be needing that."

Nyssa raised an eyebrow. "Did you not enjoy your stay in the city?"

Talia gave her a look of absolute loathing as a response. "I believe the League sent a burning flotilla of cargo ships telegram to that effect."

They did. They really did. They had taken the ledger that had listed the entire smuggling operation that had been on the boat Talia had been held in, and operatives had gone in to destroy each member of the fleet. Nyssa had sent a footnote to Talia's command to ensure that those held captive on those ships would be sent to safety first, but she was certain some of her more ruthless assassins were bound to make excuses.

Talia settled in her seat, and regarded the younger woman. "When are you leaving?"

"In a day. ARGUS is watching the airport, and INTERPOL the bridges. I had to adjust my means of departure." Nyssa told her.

"You know we have the resources to erase your files." Talia reminded her.

"Yes, but for now this silly game of cat and mouse they insist on pursuing is worth the amusement." Nyssa replied.

Talia shook her head, because honestly: this recklessness was going to get Nyssa killed one day. "And your little bird?"

"Is on record as being deceased." If Nyssa were someone who easily expressed amusement, she would be grinning mischievously. As it was, the humor only expressed itself in a wry smile. "Wouldn't that be exciting."

She was insane. Clearly. Talia rolled her eyes. "Is she fine, leaving her family and friends behind?"

No, but Sara had always had a sense of wanderlust within her, and since Talia had waived Sara from having to again swear her oath to the League, only her allegiance to the Heads of the Demon, it was suffice to expect that she would go where Nyssa traveled.

Talia glanced at Nyssa, who kept her gaze on her sister. A far cry from the scrawny thing that had struggled not to press her face to the car windows to look outside, when they had traveled as children. "Answers to her resurrection remain unanswered, Nyssa."

"I am aware."

"And if the reasons arise?"

"Will be dealt with."

Talia scoffed. Still so gullible. "And what if she is a pawn?"

"She is not." Nyssa's tone was sharp.

Clearly she had struck a nerve. Talia narrowed her eyes. "You know as well as I do those who wish to strike against us will not hesitate to use her against you."

"They will not be given the chance."

" _She_ could be used to strike against you." Talia stated, a harsh reminder in the guise of a gentle warning. The Magician, after all, had been able to use his own daughter to enact his plans. Who was to say Sara Lance couldn't be used similarly?

Nyssa finally glanced away, both of them knowing what Talia was implying but refused to state out loud: Sara was a chess piece against Nyssa.

And Nyssa had never been willing to sacrifice her queen.

But let Nyssa deal with that issue, as Talia had no doubt Nyssa would do whatever she damn well pleased anyway. "I noticed Thea Queen and Felicity Smoak were present today, alongside Thea's personal attorney and her sister, and Ms. Smoak's bodyguard, all sans your husband. Is Oliver Queen still pouting?"

Nyssa was grateful that Talia had let the subject matter of Sara drop, but would never say it outright; and the remark about Oliver made some of her goodwill disappear. "The community center is sponsored by Queen Consolidated and Merlyn Global. You all but forced their hand in attending."

Talia waved her hand dismissively, as if Nyssa's rebuttal was irrelevant, but Nyssa could recognize the minute smile on Talia's lips. "I do like how Miss Smoak never knows how to act around me."

"She means well."

"The road to hell, Nyssa." Talia reminded her of the aphorism about good intentions. After all, hadn't it been Oliver Queen's good intentions that led to this point? She glanced out the car window, as the car rolled into the indoor parking area of Queen Consolidated. "This endeavor has not alienated you from Starling's Green Arrow and his friends?"

"Thea Queen and Laurel Lance retain their allegiance and friendship. Oliver Queen and his friends will think twice before crossing The Demon again."

Talia glanced at her as the car came to a stop. "Next time, do not wait so long before you come to me. I will not be as intolerable as father in regards to you asking for help."

Nyssa scoffed. "There will be no next time."

Talia's gaze turned into a glare. "Nyssa."

Nyssa met her glare, and exhaled her reluctant acquiescence. "You have my word."

Talia kept her gaze on the younger woman for another long moment before she leaned back. "Perhaps next time I shall be the one to call on you."

"I shall look forward to it."

Talia smiled, a rare occasion especially when directed at her sister, and gathered her briefcase as she moved to leave. "Good hunting, Nyssa."

"Good hunting, Talia." Nyssa returned, also leaving the vehicle to take another car from the fleet of cars under the company. It never hurt to be cautious of possible surveillance, especially given the heat Oliver Queen insisted on bringing to his beloved city.

The doors to the owner's private elevator opened, and given how Talia was supposed to be the only one authorized to use it, expecting the car to be empty, instinct took over when Nyssa, Talia, and Talia's bodyguards all realized that was not the case.

Nyssa's knife was blocked, but Talia's leather briefcase proved to be an efficient weapon regardless, catching Oliver Queen off-guard and giving her enough of an opportunity to send him sprawling against the far wall of the elevator shaft.

The two sisters stood over the dazed man's body, Nyssa motioning for the guards to remain by her car as she joined her sister and Oliver in the elevator shaft and ascended to the rooftop where Talia's helicopter waited.

"Honestly, Mister Queen. Is this necessary? And it's like you _enjoy_ having violence performed against you." Talia studied her briefcase, and frowned at the newly-formed crease that could easily be noticed. "You owe me a new briefcase."

Oliver hauled himself off the floor, picking up Nyssa's knife from the floor. He glared at her as he offered it back. "You're lucky I saw that coming."

"You're lucky I recognized your loathsome visage." Nyssa returned. The question of whether she had thrown her knife before or after she recognized him went unasked.

"To what do we owe this visit from the Arrow's alter ego?" Talia queried.

"I'm making sure you leave town and don't come back."

"You can speak normally, you're not dressed as Robin Hood with a leather fetish." Nyssa reminded.

Oliver gave her a petulant look.

"Was this necessary?" Talia asked dryly. "We have concluded our business here. If you've been paying attention, I have a helo waiting to leave, and your friends in ARGUS are the ones delaying my sister's departure." She feigned concern. "Did your time on Lian Yu do more damage than just psychological?"

Oliver scowled at her. Them. Since Nyssa stood to his side and Lilian Tate in front by the doors, he couldn't scowl in just one direction. He hated them so much.

"Be careful, Mr. Queen. I am not as merciful as my sister." Talia warned him. "Nor as forgiving. I will not hesitate to burn your city to the ground the next time your careless behavior crosses the Demon."

"I am protecting my—"

"I do not care." Talia cut him off. "People have died for less grievous offenses against the Demon's Head; you live purely by Nyssa's discretion. But do not mistake her discretion for benevolence on either of our parts."

Oliver scoffed, but wisely opted not to speak further. Instead, he crossed his arms across his chest and sulked.

Talia rolled her eyes at him, and turned to face the elevator doors, turning her back to him and trusting Nyssa to deal with the nuisance that was Star City's vigilante hero. When the doors opened, Talia spoke sharply to the League guard who stood waiting, poised to attack the assailant in the car with the Demon's Head. The guard stepped back, and Talia simply nodded at Nyssa before she turned to exit the elevator car. She paused just past the doors, and turned back to them. "Play nice, you two. I left your wedding present in the other car; you can thank me later."

Nyssa cursed an upbringing that made her thrive for her sister's approval, which prevented her from the impulse of throwing her dagger in her sister's direction, while Oliver was ever-helpful with his annoying sounds of protest.

Once Talia was on the helicopter and was safely on her way out of Starling, Oliver turned to Nyssa. "I hate your sister."

Nyssa concurred, pressing the elevator button for the parking floor once more. "Yes. I sometimes feel that way as well."

Oliver paused, then: "Her name isn't really Lilian Tate, is it?"

Nyssa looked away from the closing doors, and turned to regard Oliver. "But it is."

"I don't get it."

"You never do, Mister Queen." Nyssa said in fond exasperation. Because loathe as she was to admit it, the man _had_ grown on her. Like a fungus. She watched the display that indicated the floor the elevator was on.

Once the doors opened, Oliver followed Nyssa out. "You can't take Sara."

Nyssa paused, and gave him a sidelong glance. "And you get to dictate my actions, or Sara's?"

"You know it isn't safe."

Nyssa gave him a baleful glare. "Might I remind you that her life had been made difficult due to her dalliance with you? She is safer with me and the League than under your protection, and we are both aware you are but one man and you cannot protect all those you love."

"She is a target because of you!" Oliver reminded.

Nyssa stopped, and turned to face him. "I am not merely Heir, Mr. Queen. You will be wise to watch your tone when you speak with me." She indicated their surroundings, and Oliver glanced away from Nyssa to notice Talia's bodyguards aiming guns and arrows at him. Nyssa stepped closer to Oliver, challenging him. "Furthermore, she will be protected _because_ of _me_. Your city, your friends, the people Sara calls her own, they are protected because of me, because I care for her."

"This, what you're doing? You do the dirty work in the cover of darkness and have your sister playing the role of the role model and leader in the day? You're not making Starling a better place, you're giving it a mask to cover up the bad parts." Oliver argued.

"And you would know all about masks." Nyssa said dryly.

"Protecting Starling and keeping it safe is a crusade, Nyssa, for the rest of us. What you're doing isn't." Oliver gave her a pointed look. "Yours isn't heroic work, Nyssa."

Nyssa rolled her eyes. "I am Head of the Demon, Mr. Queen. The time for heroism is long past. I do what is necessary. You are still yet to learn the difference." She stepped away from him. "Lucky for you, I have grown weary of your presence and have other places to be."

She walked towards the spare car, and opened the door to the back seat to find a plain manila envelope. She picked it up, opened it, and studied the contents. Under her breath, she muttered, "I do only hate her _sometimes_."

She marched back towards Oliver, and shoved the envelope in his hands. "I believe this should be helpful."

Oliver frowned. "What's this?"

"My sister's gift. She tends towards irony." Nyssa said flatly.

"What is it?" Oliver asked warily, looking at the envelope flap, feeling trepidation at the mere idea of opening it.

"Learn to read, Mister Queen." Nyssa admonished. "Give it to Laurel. And I do not want to hear of this again."

She went back to the car, the driver obediently following her, and moments later the car left the garage, leaving Oliver behind.

Oliver looked down at the envelope, and finally opened it as instructed.

A wedding present, Lilian Tate – whatever her name is – had called it.

Inside were documents declaring his marriage to Nyssa null and void.

Something useful, Nyssa had said.

For once, since this whole thing started, they agreed.

* * *

End.

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you for reading this story, for favoring, for following, and especially for leaving comments. I often wanted to answer your questions, but to do so was to tell more about the story than I was ready to._

 _Yes, I know questions on Sara's resurrection need to be worked on and answered; however this story was about the Demon's Heads in Starling so their departure is the story's natural end.  
_

 _[ETA 31/07/2017] I_ am _working on a sequel, but it's slow going and I'm currently working on other things. I highly recommend following this story and NOT my user profile if you want to be alerted to any additions to this story._


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